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IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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Hiotographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


23  WBT  MAIN  STRUT 

WnSTIR,N.Y.  14SM 

(716)  •72-4903 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHIVJ/ICIVIH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notes  techniques  et  bibiiographiques 


Thee 
toth( 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


L'Institut  a  microfilm*  le  meilieur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  M  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  methods  normale  de  f ilmage 
sont  indiqu6s  ci-dessous. 


Thai 
potsi 
of  th 
fllmii 


□    Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 

□   Covers  damaged/ 
Couverture  endommagie 

□   Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaur^  et/ou  pellicul6e 


D 


Cover  title  missing/ 

Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


I     I   Coloured  pages/ 


Pages  de  couleur 

Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagies 


□   Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restauries  et/ou  pellicui^es 

FTI   Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
K  '   Pages  d^colories,  tacheties  ou  piqudes 


Origl 

begii 

theh 

sion, 

othei 

first 

slon, 

or  ili( 


I     I   Coloured  maps/ 


□ 


D 
D 


D 


Cartes  giographiques  en  couleur 

Coloured  inic  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


I — I   Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


D 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
ReliA  avec  d'autres  documents 


Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liure  serr6e  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intirieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajout^es 
lors  d'une  restauration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte. 
me'tt,  lorsque  cela  Atait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  At6  film^es. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  supplAmentaires; 


□   Pages  detached/ 
Pages  d6tachdes 

r~^Showthrough/ 
L^   Transparence 

□   Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Qualiti  inigale  de  i'impression 

HT]   Includes  supplementary  material/ 

I — I   Comprend  du  materiel  suppl^mentaire 

I — I   Only  edition  available/ 


The  I 
shall 
TINL 
whic 

Map 
diffe 
entir 
begii 
righl 
requ 
metl 


D 


Seule  Edition  disponible 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc..  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuiiiet  d'errata,  une  pelure. 
etc..  ont  it6  film6es  A  nouveau  de  fa^on  A 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film*  au  taux  de  reduction  Indiqu*  ci-dessous. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


26X 


30X 


y 


12X 


16X 


30X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


The  copy  filmed  her*  hae  been  reproduced  thanke 
to  the  generoeity  of: 

Mttropditin  Toronto  Library 
History  Dtpartmtnt 


L'exemplaire  filmi  fut  reproduit  grice  A  la 
g4nAroaitA  do: 

IMstropolitin  Toronto  Library 
History  Departmant 


The  image*  appearing  here  are  the  beet  quality 
poeaibie  conaidering  the  condition  end  legibility 
of  the  origlnei  copy  end  In  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  apecificatlona. 


Lea  image*  auhfante*  ont  At*  roproduito*  evec  le 
piu*  grand  aoin,  compt*  tanu  de  le  condition  et 
de  la  nettet*  de  i'exempiaire  f  lim«,  et  en 
conformity  avec  lee  condition*  du  contrat  de 
fllmage. 


Original  cople*  In  print*d  paper  cover*  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  iaat  pag*  with  a  printed  or  illuatratad  imprea- 
*lon,  or  th*  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  origlnei  coplea  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
firat  page  with  a  printed  or  illuatratad  impraa- 
*lon,  and  onding  on  the  ie*t  page  with  a  printed 
or  Illuatratad  Impreaalon. 


1.00  exempiairea  originaux  dont  la  couvorture  en 
papier  eat  imprimte  aont  fiimia  en  commenpant 
par  ie  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  aoit  par  la 
dernlAre  page  qui  eomporte  une  empreinte 
d'impreeaion  ou  d'iiiuatration,  aoit  par  le  aecond 
plat,  aaion  le  eaa.  Toua  lee  autrea  exempiairea 
originaux  aont  filmte  en  commenpant  par  ia 
premiAre  page  qui  eomporte  une  empreinte 
d'impreeaion  ou  d'iiiuatration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernlAre  page  qui  eomporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 


The  Iaat  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
ahall  contain  the  eymbol  — ^-  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  aymbol  y  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applle*. 


Un  de*  aymboie*  *uivant8  apparaftra  *ur  la 
dernlAre  Imege  de  cheque  microfiche,  **ion  ie 
caa:  le  aymboie  — »•  aignifie  "A  SUiVRE",  le 
eymbol*  V  *lgnlfl*  "FIN". 


Map*,  plat**,  chart*,  *tc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratioa.  Thoae  too  large  to  be 
entirely  Included  In  one  expoaure  are  filmed 
beginning  In  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  aa  many  framea  a* 
r*qulr*d.  Th*  following  diagram*  lllu*trat*  th* 
m*thod: 


L**  carta*,  pianchea,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  Atre 
fllmte  A  d**  taux  de  rMuctlon  different*. 
Loroqu*  I*  document  e*t  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  aeul  ciichA,  II  eat  film*  A  partir 
de  i'engie  eupArleur  gauche,  de  gauche  A  drolte, 
et  de  haut  en  bea,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'imagea  nAceaaaire.  Lee  diagrammee  auivanta 
iiluetrent  la  mAthode. 


1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

S' 


»,:». 
♦'■■" 


BISTORT  OF  THE  SfiTtLBlMENT 


0  P 


STETJBEN  COUNTY,  N.  Y. 


INCLUDING  NOTICES  OF  THE  OLD  PIONEER  SETTLEBS 
AND  THEIR  ADVENTURESL 


S\^\\)       4 


BY    aUY    H.    MO  MASTER. 


R.  S..  XJNPISRHILL  A   00. 
186& 


3, 


...j, 


TxawajTw  ?ii(T  K)  ymrfm 


T .t  jT/ uo')  ^a.a:uaT<^ 


m. 


^  (liOiZ 


',\  /ryAM^i/:   itt   vij" .    :'  I 


ij'iJ~u'u-m_n.>^n-r^Kj\nni'»-ir.f%ri->-ii'>r-»-.-i^f*-'i— ******      "    '  ■  ^  **  •  ■    ■   »^*-*^^ 

WM.  C.  BRYANT  k.  CO^  FBIMTERS,  N.  Y. 


# 


Vi 


l>fo  'iil:  '■  •  '.i!dp"i4y  vi<.4o<ii«ii««ia  na  iw<{  «ini  bnh  Illw  .tnr^rrt 
ftjii  >d  !Awti>!*«  vhr»  '-    ''Hj-.  .  '  il//  tjUubiv.''   ,'       *);i-if 

-,i'.:^;>tR.v>'->  s*;AicUi".'    '  '    '  ■•'■  ■;■'  '  i''!/::   Ji**'>"i'itnf  ':«.i"^J^j«il 

Tfl^l^bile^ori  ^'  {he  Mowing  it^ii^'' Wk  ti^^Mlr^iir^ttr^ 
the  reqtreit  of  the  publishers  of  this  volnme.    White  of  ooikne 
it  was  hot  idxpected  that  the  general  public  i^ould  feel  any 
interest  in  the  subject  of  the  Work,  it  was  yet  believed  that  to 
the  citizens  of  Steuben  County  a  chronicle  of  its  settlement 
would  possess  some  valuC;    The  task  was  entered  upon,  not 
without  misgivings  that  the  historic  materials  to  be  found  in  a 
backwoods  county,  destitute  df  colonial  and  revolutionary  re-> 
miniscence,  and  possessing  an  Antiquity  of  at  most  seventy''^ 
years  beyond  which  there  was  notlllNg  oven  to  be  guessed  a^ 
would  pM)ve  rather  scanty ;  and^'wmle  it  cannot  be'pretended''^^ 
that  the  vein  has  been  found  richer  than  it  promised,  it  iis ' 
nevertheless  hoped  that  something  df  interest  to  citiisens  of  ther*' 
county  has  been  rescued  from  the  forgetfulness  into  which 
the  annaJs  of  the  settlement  were  &st  passing.  i<>   ^ 

All  the  &CtB  set  forth  in  the  pi^  ensuing,  ex^pt  those  ' 
for  which  (Afedit  is  given  to  other  sources,  were  collected  by 
the  Editor  of  the  volume,  by  personal  inquiiy  in  most  iiases, 
from  the  surviving  pioneers  of  the  county.    )ELe  has  been  "^ 
unable  to  enrich  his  collection  by  iany  ancient  documentary'^ 
matter— letters,  diaries  or  memoratnda.    The  early  history  of 
the  county'restcd  in  the  memory  of  the  few  pioneers  who  are 
living,  and  in  the  traditions  handed  down  by  those  who  are 
departed.    The  appearance  df  Mr.  0.  Turner's  timely  His*  ' 
toiy  of  "  Phelps  and  Gorham's  Purchase,"  after  thi*  work  wiw 
prepared  for  the  press,  has  enabled  the  editor  to  correct  the 
results  of  his  own  inquiries  in  several  important  instances. 


4 


Those  whose  memory  extends  to  the  period  of  the  settle- 
ment, will  find  this  but  an  unsatisfactoiy  chronlde  of  the  old 
time.  Individuals  who  merit  notice  as  early  settlers  of  the 
county  have  probably  been  passed  over  unnoticed;  many 
facts  of  interest  and  importance  have  doubtless  escaped  the 
researches  of  the  edi^r,  and  serious  inaecun^^  v|ri^  undo^^* 
edly  be  discovered  in  the  statem^ts  recorded.  A  fiur  4^gBe« 
of  diligence  in  si^arohing  for  facts,  and  a  sincere  desijre  to  pre- 
serve honorable  among  those  who  shall  hereafter  inhabit  this 
county,  the  memory  of  those  plain,  hardy  and  free-hearted 
men  who  first  broke  into  its  original  wilderness  and  by  the 
work  of  their  own  hands  began  to  make  it  what  it  now  is,  are^ 
all  that  can  be  offered  in  exteQuation  of  tiie  meagreness  of 
the  results  of  the  editor's  labors.  The  collection  should  have 
been  made  twenty  years  ago.  Many  pioneers  of  note — men 
of  adventure,  of  observation  and  of  rare  powers  of  narration, 
have  gone  from  among  the  living  since  that  time.  Much  of 
valuable  and  ^ntert^ning  reminiscence  has  perished  with 
them. 

It  is  well  enough,  perhaps,  to  add  in  explanation  of  vaga- 
ries of  divers  descriptions  which  may  be  encountered  in  the 
following  pages,  and  for  which  the  reader  may  be  at  a  loss  to 
account,  that  this  volume  was  written  nearly  two  yearn  ago, 
and  at  a  period  of  life  when  such  a  lapse  of  time  liAppjly 
brings  great  changes  oi  taste  and  feeUng. 

The  editor  takes  pleasure  in  acknowledging  his  obligations 
to  citizens  in  various  parts  of  th,e  county  to  ivhoip  he  had 
occasion  to  apply  in  the  course  of  his  inquiries,  for  the  readi- 
ness with  which  he  has  in  all  cashes  J^in^  jH^ted  jn  %6JpKQ- 
secution  of  his  researches.  ,  , ,, , 

JBatht  Dee.  IB62,  .,  :>  md  .mfti  i^di    "*  ^ 


iv 


? 


■fti-l^i    '  !•<>■>»!<: 


A'--^> 


'iU. 


■fiR'    y 

;•  \. 

,  ■  -' 

'.\'f\ 

•»tii;^..ifci 

--■  ■  i. 

'.t\ 

NOTICE  OF  THE  TOPOGRAPHY  AND  GEOLOGY 
OF  STEUBEN  COUNTY  * 


Steuben  County  occupies  the  summit  and  eastern  slope  of 
that  ridge  which  divides  the  waters  west  of  Seneca  Lake 
that  flow  to  the  Susquehanna,  from  those  that  enter  the 
Genesee.    The  course  of  this  ridge  is  northeast  and  south- 
west; its  breadth  from  base  to  base  is  from  ibrty  to  fifty 
miles;  the  elevatiob  of  the  eastern  base  is  about  nine  >   *  ~ 
dred  feet^  and  that  of  the  western  base  (the  valley  of  J  le 
Genesee,)   nearly  eighteen  hundred  feet  above  tide  water; 
while  the  highest  intervening  uplands  attain  an  elevation  of 
twenty-five  hundred  feet  above  the  same  level.    The  summit 
of  the  ridge  follows  the  curve  of  the  Genesee  at  the  distance 
of  about  ten  miles  from  that  river.   The  streams  flowing  down 
the  brief  western  slope  are,  therefore,  but  inconsiderable  creeks, 
while  the  waters  collected  from  the  other  side  supply  the 
channels  of  three  rivers,  the  Tioga,  the  Canisteo  and  the  Con- 
hocton,  which  uniting  form  the  Chemung,  and  add  essential- 
ly to  the  power  of  the  noble  Susquehanna.    The  region  com- 
posing this  dividing  range  is  an  intricate  hill  country,  oonsist- 
ing  of  rolling  and  irregular  uplands,  intersected  by  deep  river 
valleys,  by  the  beds  of  several  lakes,  and  by  the  crooked  ra- 


*  Gathered  chieflj  from  the  State  (^logical  Reports. 


vines  worn  by  innumerable  creeks.  Few  rocks  are  presented 
at  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  the  whole  land  was  origin- 
ally covered  with  a  dense  forest — as  well  the  almost  perpen- 
dicular hill  sides,  as  the  valleys  and  uplands.  The  river  val- 
leys are  bounded  by  abrupt  walls  from  two  hundred  to  eight 
hundred  feet  high,  which  sometimes  confine  the  streams  with- 
in gorges  of  a  few  rods  in  width,  sometimes  grant  a  mile,  and 
sometimes  at  the  meeting  of  transverse  valleys  enclose  a  plain 
of  several  miles  in  circuit. 

The  dividing  ridge  curves  from  the  western  along  the  north- 
em  boundary  of  the  county.    The  waters  of  the  principal 
northern  towns  run  to  the  Oonhocton,  while  those  of  the  coun- 
ties adjoining,  flowing  in  an  opposite  direction,  feed  the  cen- 
tral lakes  of  New  York  and  find  ultimately  Lake  Ontario,  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  the  foggy  bays  of  Newfoundland.    But 
that  the  abrupt  gulf  of  Crooked  Lake  pierces  deep  into  the 
hills  from  the  north,  and  carries  off  the  meagre  brooks  of  two 
towns  seated  upon  its  western  blufis,  our  county  would  con- 
tain within  itself  a  complete  system  of  waters.    The  streams 
would  pour  down  on  all  sides  from  a  circle  of  hills  and  escape 
only  by  the  narrow  gate  of  the  Chemung,  at  a  depth  of  six- 
teen hundred  feet  below  the  springs  upon  the  bounding  sum- 
mits.   A  wall  would  enclose  a  complete  province,  and  the 
scientific  citizen  hovering  in  a  balloon  above  the  single  gate- 
way in  the  south  would  behold,  fifty  miles  to  the  northward, 
blue  ranges  sweeping  in  a  splendid  curve  to  the  Seneca,  then 
bending  southward  to  complete  the  perfect  ring  of  highlands. 
The  Crooked  Lake  is  an  intruder  and  sadly  mars  this  scheme 
of  uniformity.    Breaking  through  the  barrier  which  separates 
the  northwestern  tributaries  of  the  Susquehanna  from  those 
nomadic  waters  that  wander  to  Canada  and  the  ocean  of  ice- 
bergs, it  lies  in  a  dark  and  deep  bed  sixteen  miles  within  the 


8 

county,  while  the  southern  extension  of  its  valley  pierces 
through  to  the  Conhocton  and  forms,  by  its  junction  with  the 
channel  of  that  river,  the  broad  and  pleasant  valley  of  Bath. 
But  few  streams,  however,  have  been  carried  captive  by  this 
great  robber  to  the  shivering  seas  of  Labrador.  Two  or  three 
unfortunate  brooks  are  compelled  to  send  thilhor  their  unwil- 
ling waters ;  and,  aside  from  these  resources,  it  subsists  upon 
secret  springs  and  the  rains  that  fall  upon  the  bluf&  and  pour 
into  the  lake  by  a  thousand  short  ravines  or  gutters. 

The  hills  of  Steuben  county  are  irregular  blocks  cut  out  of 
a  plateau  of  clay,  rock  and  gravel,  by  the  action  of  the  ele- 
ments. Of  the  forces  and  elements  by  the  action  of  which 
this  original  plateau  was  created,  and  of  the  later  forces  which 
afterwards  hewed  it  into  its  present  form — forms  like  those  of 
a  block  of  ice  shattered  by  the  blow  of  a  hammer — we  have 
a  singular  account  from  men  of  science. 

That  the  regions  we  now  occupy,  and  indeed  this  whole 
western  region,  even  to  the  Cordilleras  (or  rather  the  foundar 
tions  upon  which  they  are  built,)  were,  in  time  past,  at  the 
bottom  of  a  vast  ocean ;  that  certain  continents  which  in  the 
earliest  ages  sat  in  the  East,  were  broken  up  violently  by  con- 
vulsions of  nature,  or  were  gradually  dissolved  by  forces  mild- 
er than  the  arms  of  those  rude  slaves  dwelling  under  the 
earth  which  are  of  old  reported  by  Geologists  to  have  over- 
turned mountai.  >,  and  cloven  in  twain  fast  anchored  islands, 
and  that  the  currents  of  the  ocean  flowing  like  steady  rivers 
towards  the  setting  sun,  were  laden  with  the  dust  of  conti- 
nents thus  destroyed,  and  strewed  it  over  the  submerged 
plains  of  the  West ;  that  after  these  rivers  of  the  ocean  had 
labored  silently  and  without  ceasing  for  many  ages,  the  whole 
bed  of  the  "Western  deep  was  covered  to  the  depth  of  m£  ^y 
thousand  feet  with  the  materials  of  which  the  andent  East- 


ern  world  was  built,  till  at  length  peaks,  then  islands,  then 
a  new  continent,  appeared  upon  the  face  of  the  globe,  while 
the  waters  by  many  channels  ran  down  into  the  vast  hollow 
of  the  uprooted  continent  to  form  a  new  ocean : — all  these 
things  State  Geologists  seem  to  believe  established — or  at 
least  they  feel  at  liberty  to  surmise  substantially  to  thb 
effect 

Further  than  this,  we  are  invited  to  see  the  builders  at  their 
secret  labors.    Sluggish  rivers  of  mud  roll  through  the  deep 
like  enormous  serpents,  and  waste  themselves  before  they 
reach  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi.    Brighter  torrents  of  sand 
following  spread  a  gay  carpet  over  the  brackish  trail  of  the 
mud-snake :  then  streams  of  pebble  and  shattered  rock  and 
of  all  the  powders  of  an  abraded  world  deposit,  now  Niagara 
Groups,  now  Chemung  Groups,  or  when  stirred  by  tempests 
and  water-spouts  settle  into  coarse  conglomerate.    We  are 
shown,  also,  periods  of  a  wonderful  life.    Millions  of  those 
brilliant  "shells  and  crinoideans  and  crustaceans,**  whose  fan- 
tastic images  are  stamped  upon  the  rocks,  dwelt  in  numberless 
nations  among  the  waters,  while  those  hideous  monsters 
whose  names   were  only  less  formidable  than  themselves, 
prowled  through  the  depths  below,  or  floundered  in  elephan- 
tine antics  among  the  billows  above.  Once  a  part  of  the  floor 
of  the  ocean,  which  seems  to  have  been  the  roof  of  a  cavern 
occupied  by  certain  "  secret  black  and  midnight**  powers,  sinks 
downward,  arouses  the  horrible  Pluto  of  Mud  from  his  slum- 
bers in  bottomless  volcanoes,  who,  rising  in  towering  anger 
through  the  rafters  of  his  broken  house,  overwhelms  coral 
forests,  the  empires  of  the  gorgeous  fossil  tribes,  and  all  the 
beautiful  mansions  of  the  deep  with  a  tremendous  flood  of 
mire.    Other  atrocious  giants  come  forth  from  the  volcanic 
furnaces  into  which  the  waters  have  fallen,  and  heat  the  ocean 


then 
>,  while 
hollow 

these 
—or  at 
to  this 


with  spouts  of  steam,  while  certain  angry  chemists,  drenched 
in  their  subterranean  laboratories  by  the  sudden  inundation 
of  brine,  let  loose  their  most  poisonous  gasses,  and  catching 
the  unfortunate  nymphs,  dose  them  with  deadly  physic.  All 
creatures  perish.  Even  .he  gigantic  and  roaring  monsters, 
choked  with  mud  and  suffocated  by  the  poisons  that  rise 
from  the  reservoirs  of  death  below,  flounder  in  dying  agonies. 
Their  carcases  are  drifted  to  and  fro  for  a  time,  and  thousands 
of  years  afterwards,  men  digging  in  mines  lay  bare  their  huge 
white  jaws  and  their  mighty  shanks,  and  fasten  up  their  skele- 
tons with  wire  in  National  Museums.  All  these,  and  many 
other  strange  things,  showing  how  at  last  the  region  we  in- 
habit was  built,  we  see,  from  the  happily  settled  times  of  the 
present,  into  the  troubled  times  far  away — times  truly  of  "agi- 
tation and  fanaticism." 

Let  us  now  leave  greater  speculations,  and  look  homeward. 
That  tract  of  land  now  occupied  by  the  five  western  counties 
of  New  York  in  the  southern  tier,  appeared  above  the 
waters  in  the  form  of  a  regular  plateau  with  a  mean  elevation 
of  two  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  present  ocean, 
overlooking  the  sea  which  covered  the  northern  counties,  the 
Canadas,  and  the  Oreat  Western  Valley.  The  detritus  from 
which  this  plateau  was  constructed,  had  ripened  into  a  series 
of  shales,  flagstones  and  sandstones,  which  from  the  differ- 
ence of  the  organic  remains  of  the  upper  and  lower  ledges, 
have  been  divided  by  geologists  into  two  groups, — ^the  upper 
or  Chemung  group,  and  the  lower  or  Portage  group.  The 
maps  represent  these  as  first  appearing  near  Chenango 
County  in  this  State,  thence  running  westwards  through  the 
southern  counties,  with  a  breadth  of  some  fifty  miles,  and  a 
thickness  of  about  2500  feet,  thence  continuing  along  the 
shore  of  Lake  Erie,  and  toward  the  western  extremity  of  that 
2* 


4» 


6 


t 


lake,  making  a  bold  curve  aotr&ward.  Their  course,  however^ 
appears  not  to  hare  been  carefully  followed  in  their  wander- 
ings toward  the  far  west;  for  we  hear  of  them  as  being 
'^probably*'  in  Indiana,  in  reduced  circumstances,  with  a 
thickness  of  less  than  400  feet. 

But  this  matters  net  at  present.  We  are  shown  then  at 
the  period  of  our  deliTCrance  from  the  deep,  a  fine  plateau, 
extending  from  Lake  Erie  iar  toward  the  east,  and  from  the 
foot  of  the  Pennsylvanian  mountains  northward  about  sixty 
miles,  to  a  great  bay  of  the  ocean.  How  did  this  become  a 
labyrinth  of  hills?  The  waters  that  fell  from  the  clouds,  or 
that  issued  from  the  grounds  wandered  this  way  and  that, 
under  the  guidance  of  their  restless  instincts  seeking  the 
ocean.  Many  combining,  formed  rivers,  and  furrowed  for 
themselves  deep  and  curving  valleys ;  the  creeks  conquered 
crooked  but  triumj^ant  passages  through  ledges  of  sand 
stone,  and  beds  of  shale,  wearing  their  channels  by  indus- 
trious labor  through  many  centuries  ;  while  the  brooks,  the 
runnels,  the  spring  torrents,  and  all  those  lesser  hydraulic 
tribes,  slashed  the  fair  table  land  in  all  directions  with  goiges 
and  ravines. 

Work  like  this  would  have  hewn  the  plateau  into  abrupt 
blocks.  It  would  have  left  a  multitude  of  isolated  and  inac- 
cessible tables,  islands  divided  by  perpendicular  gulfe.  Neither 
man  nor  beast  could  have  ascended  to  the  uplands.  The 
river  valleys  would  have  been  broad  halls  enclosed  by  walls 
of  rock :  and  the  lumberman  roving  up  the  beds  of  the  tri- 
butaiy  streams,  would  find  himself  involved  in  hopdess 
defiles,  with  precipices  jutting  forth  on  either  side,  while 
hundreds  of  feet  above  his  head  the  pine  and  the  fir  swayed 
their  princely  plumes  in  derision,  like  savage  kings  jeering 
the  Spaniard  from  inaccessible  clifls. 


# 


But  observe  how  the  jadidous  elements,  with  rude  and 
ungeometrical  but  kindly  labor,  prepared  the  new  made  r^on 
to  be  a  habitation  for  man.    The  frosta  with  powerful  wedges 
cracked  the  precipitous  bluffi,  or  with  mighty  hammers,  as  it 
would  seem,  shivered  to  atoms  rocky  pyramids.    The  rains 
rounded  the  edges  of  the  cli£&,  here  pushing  off  great  masses 
of  earth,  there  sweeping  loosened  ledges  into  the  ravines, 
while  the  invisible  powers  of  the  air  working  many  cen- 
turies with  those  more  boisterous  slaves,  which  hollowed 
the  water  courses  and  broke  up  the  rocks,  wrought  at 
length   the  rolling  ridges,   the    broad    knobs,    the  blunt 
promontories,  and  all    the  curiously  designed    mountain- 
figures  that  now  cover  the  land.    The  work  was  thui^made 
perfect.    Forests  cover  the  hills,  and  republicans  coming  after 
many  days  with  plows  and  axes,  find  a  land  made  ready  for 
them.  After  many  days,  too,  civil-engineers,  with  their  glass- 
es and  brazen  instruments,  appear  at  the  foot  of  the  ridge 
dividing  the  Susquehanna  from  the  Genesee,  and  find  that 
the  rivers  and  industrious  brooks  have  been  laboring  at  this 
gravel  rampart  for  many  thousand  years,  guided,  indeed,  by 
very  rude  trigonometry,  hired  by  no  pledge  of  public  stocks 
and  undisturbed  by  loans  or  rumors  of  loans,  but  have  yet 
done  the  labor  of  myriads  of  miners,  and  have  pierced  the 
ridge  with  such  admirable  cuts,  that  the  locomotive,  instead 
of  dragging  its  weary  wheels  up  an  abrupt  ascent  of  fifteen 
hundred  feet,  winds  swiftly  through  mountain  halls,  (at  the 
risk,  it  is  true,  after  the  equinoctial  rains,  of  encountering  in 
certain  places,  a  sliding  hill-top  or  an  avalanche  of  cobble- 
stones, whidi  is  quite  alpine  but  unpleasant,)  ever  finding  a 
gorge  cloven  through  the  broad  bulwarks  that  seem  to  bar 
the  valley;  ever  finding  some  crooked  but  deep  defile  through 
the  bristling  promontories  that  crowd  together  as  if  expressly 
for  the  discouragement  of  nulroad  directors. 


It  will  be  remembered  that  at  the  deliverance  of  Steuben 
county,  with  its  four  western  neighbors,  from  the  water,  a 
large  tract  of  land  in  the  North,  which  is  now  high  and  dry, 
was  lying  under  the  sea.  This  sea  lost  life  rapidly,  and  bled 
to  death  as  it  were  through  many  wounds.  Until  its  level 
sank  below  the  level  of  the  upper  valley  of  the  Canistes,  the 
channel  of  that  river  was  one  of  the  passages  through  which 
it  was  drained.  The  torrent  that  ran  roaring  through  the 
hills  when  supplied  from  such  a  reservoir  was  a  powerful  one; 
but  since  that  has  failed,  the  river  has  shrunk  to  very  mode- 
rate dimensions,  and  now  subsists  upon  the  scanty  charities 
of  the  mountain  springs.  Similar  rivers  probably  flowed 
through  many  of  the  southwardly  inclining  valleys  and  cov- 
ered them  with  "  northern  drift." 

In  descending  to  details,  the  prospect  is  quite  dishearten- 
ing. We  are  mortified  to  confess  that  our  county  is  destitute 
of  volcanoes.  We  have  not  so  much  as  a  Geyser.  Of  sco- 
rise  and  moonstones  there  is  an  utter  deficiency ;  and  as  for 
trap-rock  there  is  not  an  ounce  of  it  between  Tyrone  and 
Troupsburgh.  The  true  patriot  will,  however,  hear  with 
pride,  that  fucoides  are  tolerably  abundant,  and  his  ecstacy 
will  with  difficulty  be  suppressed  when  he  learns  not  only 
that  here  was  once  the  abode  of  the  Hbloptychus  and  the 
Chniatites  AcostatttSy  but  that  here  we  find  the  relics  of  the 
Astrypa  Hystriz  and  the  Ungulina  Suborbicuktris,  and  of 
other  eccentric  aborigines  which  nibbled  sea-weed  on  our  na- 
tive hilb  in  ages  past,  when  Saturn  was  but  Crown  Prince. 
It  is  consoling  also  to  remember  that  the  tooth  of  a  mam- 
moth was  once  found  under  the  bed  of  one  of  our  central 
mill-ponds ;  reasoning  from  which  fact,  he  is  a  bold  man  who 
will  dare  to  deny  that  the  broad-homed  mastodon  once  bel- 
lowed through  these  gorges,  and  that  here  the  gigantic  ante- 


s;*'?  >^'W^'  '^ii 


9 


diluvian  transfixed  the  monster  with  his  iron  javelin !  It 
must  be  confessed,  however,  that  the  State  Geologists  are 
silent  with  regard  to  antediluvian  sportsmen.  It  will  be  with 
intense  satis&ction  that  the  sincere  patriot  meets  upon  the 
hills  of  Troupsburgh  and  Greenwood  the  airiest  localities  in 
the  country,  being  2,500  feet  above  the  sea,  that  venerable 
and  most  worthy  patriarch  among  the  rocks  of  the  earth, 
Old  Red  Sandstone.  *^  Here  the  rock  consists  of  a  thin  layer 
of  argillaceous  sandstone,  highly  ferruginous  in  character, 
and  bearing  a  general  resemblance  to  the  iron  ore  of  the 
Clinton  Group.  Its  decomposition  stains  the  soil  a  bright 
red  color,  and  from  these  indications  it  has  been  supposed 
that  valuable  beds  of  ore  would  be  found.  It  is  extremely 
doubtful,  however,  whether  this  stratum  will  ever  prove  of 
any  importance  as  an  iron  ore." — {State  Geol.  Bep.)  ^ 

Rocks  of  the  Portage  Group  ^  appear  in  all  the  deep  ra- 
vines and  along  the  water  courses  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
county,  while  the  high  grounds  are  occupied  with  those  of 
the  next  group.  ♦*♦*♦♦* 
At  Hammondsport,  in  the  ravine  above  Mallory's  Mill,  we  find 
about  three  hundred  feet  of  rock  exposed  belonging  to  the 
Portage  Group ;  they  are  well  characterized  by  the  forcoides 
graphiea.  The  mass  exposed  consists  in  the  lower  part  prin- 
cipally of  shale  and  thin  laylrs  of  sandstone,  and  at  a  higher 
point  numerous  layers  of  sandstone  firom  four  to  ten  inches 
thick.  The  edges  of  all  the  layers  exposed  are  covered  with 
crystals  of  selenite  or  crystallized  gypsum.  About  one  mile 
from  the  mouth  of  this  ravine  an  excavation  for  coal  has  been 
made  in  the  black  shale  which  alternates  with  the  sandstone 
and  olive  shale.  The  indications  of  coal  at  this  point  were  a 
few  fragments  of  vegetables,  iron  pyrites,  and  the  odor  of  Htu- 
men  arising  from  the  shale.  The  work  is  at  present  aban- 


10 

doned  until  some  new  excitement,  or  reported  exhibition 
of  burning  gas  shall  induce  others  to  engage  in  the  enter- 
prise. ♦  *♦*♦♦♦** 
One  mile  north  of  Bath  there  is  a  stratum  of  very  tough  ar- 
gillo-caloareous  rock  three  feet  thick;  This  furnishes  some  of 
tiie  finest  building  and  foundation  stone,  and  should  be  of 
such  a  quality  as  to  receive  a  fine  polish,  it  will  be  a  valuable 
acquisition  to  the  mineral  wealth  of  the  county.  *        * 

The  rocks  of  the  Chemung  group  continue  along  the  valley 
of  the  Conhocton  to  Painted  Poet  and  as  far  the  Tioga  as 
the  south  line  of  the  State,  the  tops  of  the  high  hills  ex- 
cepted, which  are  capped  by  conglomerate  in  a  few  places. 
The  valley  of  the  Canistes  is  bounded  on  both  sides  by  al- 
most unbroken  ranges  of  rock  of  the  same  group.  The  same 
rocks  are  seen  along  the  valley  of  the  Five  Mill  Greek  which 
appears  to  have  been  formerly  a  continuation  of  the  Canan- 
daigua  Lake  Valley.  *  *  *  *  *  * 
The  valley  of  Loon  Lake  is  the  continuation  of  Hemlock 
Lake  and  Springwater  Valleys.  In  the  neighborhood  of  the 
lake  large  accumulations  of  drift,  arise  in  rounded  hills  fifty  or 
sixty  feet  above  the  general  level,  and  skirt  the  valley  on 
either  side.  ******** 
The  country  known  as  Howard  Flats  is  formed  of  drift 
hills  and  ridges,  but  little  elevatld  above  the  general  level  I 
could  not  ascertain  the  depth  of  the  drift,  but  the  deepest 
wells  do  not  reach  its  termination.  *  *  *  * 
Sandstone  proper  for  grindstones  are  found  along  Bennett^s 
and  Rigg's  creeks.  ******* 
This  place  is  about  four  hundred  and  five  hundred  feet  above 
the  Canistes  and  fifteen  hundred  feet  above  tide  water.  The 
source  of  Bonnet's  creek  is  about  eight  hundred  feet  above 
the  Canistes.    Grindstones  are  obtained  in  Canistes  on  the 


ill'rriHiiHiYii 


exhibition 
the  enter- 
♦        « 

tough  ar- 

some  of 

uld  be  of 

valuable 
♦        « 

■he  valley 

Tioga  as 

hills  ex- 

^^  places. 

es  byal- 

rhe  same 

ek  which 

e  Canan- 
♦        « 

Elemlock 
dof  the 
Is  fifty  or 
aHey  on 

♦  « 

of  drift 
level  I 

deepest 

»        « 

ennett's 

*  • 

t above 

.    The 

above 

on  the 


:s 


11 

land  of  Mr.  Carter ;  in  Woodhull,  on  the  land  of  Wm. 
Stroud,  Esq.,  and  elsewhere  in  Jasper,  on  the  land  of  Col. 
Towsley.  And  sandstone  is  quarried  on  the  land  of  Mr. 
Marshidl,  near  Lagrange,  which  is  used  for  hearthstones, 
tombstones,  etc.  On  the  land  of  Mr.  Davis,  at  Lagrange,  a 
salt  spring  rises  in  the  green  shale.  Several  years  since  salt 
was  made  at  this  place  and  previously  by  the  Indians.  *  * 
There  are  numerous  beds  of  lake  marl  and  tufa  in  this  coun- 
ty. Near  Arkport  there  is  a  bed  of  this  kind  which  furnishes 
a  considerable  quantity  of  lime.  In  the  town  of  Troups- 
burgh  there  is  a  bed  of  this  marl.  There  is  an  extensive  de- 
posit on  the  Canesaraga,  south  of  Danville,  from  which  lime 
is  burned.  The  summit  level  between  this  creek  and  the 
Canisteo  presents  an  extensive  muck  swamp,  and  some  beds 
of  marl  but  their  extent  has  not  been  ascertained."  (State 
Geol.  Rep.) 

We  add  the  elevations  of  a  few  points  above  tide  water : 
Seneca  Lake,  447  feet;  Mud  Lake,  1,111  feet;  summit  be- 
tween these  lakes,  1,644  feet ;  Village  of  Bath,  1,090  feet ; 
summit  between  Mud  Lake  and  Bath,  15Y9 ;  Arkport,  1194  ; 
summit  between  Bath  and  Arkport,  1840  ;  smnmit  between 
Arkport  and  Angelica,  2,062 ;  Troupsburgh  Hills,  2,500 ; 
Coming,  925 ;  Hornellsville,  1,150  ;  Crooked  Lake,  718. 

NoTi. — The  Mastodon's  tooth  alluded  to  above  was  dug  from  a  bed  of 
blue  claj  near  the  steam  saw-mill  of  Mr.  George  Mitchell,  in  the  Gulf 
Road  between  Bath  and  Wheeler.  It  is  eight  or  ten  inches  in  length.  A 
large  bone  was  disinterred-  at  the  same  place  which  crumbled  on  exposure 
to  the  air.  Further  examination  will  doubtless  disclose  other  grinders  of 
this  huge  beast  and  perhaps  a  pair  of  those  broad  tusks,  curving  outward- 
ly at  the  points,  somewhat  like  scythes,  which  adorn  the  heads  of  its 
brethren  found  elsewhere,  and  with  which  one  good  able  bodied  fellow, 
sweeping  his  head  to  and  fro  in  wrath,  might  mow  down  an  army  of  an- 
tagonists  like  meadow  gross. 


Tt  e  bed  of  claj  in  which  the  tooth  wu  found  is  of  unusual  depth  and 
teno  sitj,  and  it  is  guessed  that  the  animal  of  which  the  said  bone  was  an 
•pportenance  while  rambling  through  the  gulf,  indiscreetly  bounced  into 
the  mire  and  was  unable  to  disengage  his  ponderous  feet.  It  is  further 
•urmised  that  the  bears  may  hare  pulled  his  skull  around  after  death  but 
that  the  frame  of  his  body  remains  where  he  mired. 


'?xr 


HISTORY    OF  THE 


SETTLEMENT  OF  STEUBEN  COUNTY. 


-3i 


CHAPTER  I. 


PRELIMINARY    HISTORY   AND   PURCHASE. 

The  early  History  of  Steuben  County  cannot  be  a 
record  of  events  whicb  are  called  great.    Tbe  chop- 
ping of  forests,  the  building  of  cabins,  tbe  founding  of 
settlements,  and  the  gradual  subjugation  of  a  most 
stubborn  wilderness,  are  the  only  matters  which  can 
engage  the  attention  of  the  chronicler.     The  events  to 
be  recounted  are  neither  tragic  nor  terrible ;  the  trou- 
bles to  be  told  are  far  from  overwhelming ;  the  mys- 
teries are  not  mysterious,  the  disasters  are  not  disas- 
trous.    No  battle  has  ever  been  fought  within  these 
boundaries.    These  hills  have  not,  within  the  memory 
of  man,  spouted  fire  or  been  shaken  by  an  earthquake. 
No  carved  stones  or  rusty  weapons  have  been  found  in 
the  vallies  which  would  indicate  that  this  county  was 
in  past  ages  aught  more  than  an  abiding  place  of  wild 
beasts  and  a  hunting  ground  for  barbarians.  And  yet, 
notwithstanding  the  dearth  of  noisy  heroism  in  our 
3 


14 


11 


i:> 


i     ( 


county's  annals,  it  may  be  avored  that  its  citizens 
have  accomplished,  in  the  last  sixty  years,  that  which 
they  may  honestly  be  proud  of,  and  that  the  work  which 
they  have  done  in  the  woods  has  proved  them  to  be 
stout-hearted,  and  strong-handed  men. 

The  record  of  events,  previous  to  the  settlement  of 
the  valley  of  the  Chemung  by  American  backwoods- 
men, must  be  but  brief  and  unsatisfactory.  Beginning 
our  investigations  at  the  earliest  times  when  Eastern 
nations  are  believed  to  have  caught  glimpses  of  a  West- 
ern world,  no  evidence  can  be  found  to  warrant  a  be- 
lief that  those  ancient  rovers,  who  are  declared  by  the 
learned  to  have  visited  the  American  shores  before  Co- 
lumbus, ever  strayed  to  that  rugged  region  over  which 
the  supervisors  of  Steuben  county  now  wave  their  demo- 
cratic sceptres.  The  Phoenicians  undoubtedly  lived 
and  died  in  ignorance  of  Loon  Lake.  No  more  traces 
are  to  be  found  of  Madoc  the  Welshman  than  of  Esau 
the  Edomite.  Biorn,  the  Northman,  it  is  to  be  feared, 
never  planted  his  Scandinarian  heel  upon  our  river- 
flats,  and  no  rrr^e-horns  have  been  found  in  the  clefts 
of  the  rocks  which  by  possibility  may  have  been  blown 
by  the  Lost  Ten  Tribes  of  Israel.  ^s^»* 

Of  those  interesting  relics  of  the  ancient  empires  of 
tiie  continent,  which  are  digged  from  the  earth  of  the 
northern  counties  of  our  state,  this  county  is  utterly 
destitute.  Mounds  which  may  have  been  the  tombs 
of  kings  coeval  with  Agamemnon ;  battlements  upon 
Irhidh  princes  greater  than  Cyrus,  and  captains  migh- 
tier than  Hannibal,  may  have  stalked ;  javelins  of 
Stranger  fashion  than  the  harpoons  of  the  Argonants ; 


w 


15 


graven  imtiges,  suspected  to  have  been  cousins  to  Da- 
gonof  the  Philistines;  swords  and  truncheons  of  gigantic 
cavaliers ;  and  other  strange  relics  of  exterminated  na- 
tions which  Oswego,  Onondaga  and  Genesee  give  up 
to  the  chronicler,  are  not  found  here.  The  farmer,  if 
is  true,  may  sometimes  lay  open  with  his  plow  the 
trench  where  lie  the  mouldering  hones  and  the  rust- 
eaten  hatchet  of  one  of  those  red  consuls  whose  whoop- 
ing legionaries  fired  the  wigwams  of  the  Catawbas  in 
the  far  South,  or  saluted  from  Illinois  bluffs  the  Father 
of  Waters  :  but  as  for  antediluvians  or  giants,  whose 
skeletons  occasionally  turn  up  in  the  fortunate  conn- 
ties  of  the  North,  not  one  of  those  venerable  pioneers 
to  our  knowledge,  reposes  on  these  Southern  river-sides. 
Relinquishing,  then,  all  hope  of  enriching  these 
pages  with  extracts  from  the  legers  of  Phoenician  tra- 
ders, the  tax  rolls  of  Israelitish  colonists,  the  diaries 
of  Welsh  wanderers,  or  the  log-books  of  Danish  Pirates ; 
and  refraining  from  all  discussion  of  the  quality  of  the 
tenancy  of  those  ancient  settlers  whose  titles,  if  any  they 
ever  had,  were  long  since  extinguished,  and  who  are 
not  likely  to  set  up  claims  against  the  grantees  of 
Phelps  and  Gorham,  all  matters  that  transpired,  or 
that  may  have  transpired  before  the  voyage  of  Colum- 
bus, may  be  dismissed  without  comment  or  conjecture. 
From  the  time  of  that  event  down  to  the  period  of  the 
actual  invasion  of  our  country  by  the  backwoodsmen> 
near  the  close  of  the  last  century,  a  faint  light,  hardly 
more  satisfactory  than  the  total  darkness  of  previous 
time,  rested  upon  our  forests,  but  in  searching  for  tan- 


•  ^    .t.,T^       <tmi    ■■:■    %m 


«^ii 


.;«»^ti-^^ 


■<.-' 


y 


dW 


A- 


gible  facts,  the  Historian  meets  only  chagrin  and  dis- 
appointment. ;; 

At  the  time  of  the  discovery,  this  region,  with  a 
large  and  indefinite  territory,  now  comprising  portions 
of  several  states,  constituted  the  domain  of  the  Five 
Nations,  a  fierce  and  crafty  people,  eloquent  sometimes, 
and  of  proud  bearing,  the  ^^  Romans  of  the  West,"  as 
some  call  them.  For  many  years  after  the  anchors  of 
the  discoverers  first  sank  in  the  bays  of  the  new  found 
continent,  these  wild  warriors  dwelt  in  their  Long-House 
unmolested  by  the  Europeans  who  sought  the  Western 
world.  The  councillors  of  their  dreaded  league  met 
for  conference  at  Genesee  or  Onondaga  castles ;  their 
armies  marched  from  the  Mohawk  to  the  Miami,  and 
there  was  none  to  dispute  their  supremacy  over  the 
magnificent  forests  of  which  their  arms  had  made  them 
the  masters.  But  in  a  century  and  a  half  new  com- 
motions began  to  agitate  the  wilderness.  Enemies 
more  formidable  than  the  Huron  or  the  Algonquin,  en- 
camped on  the  borders  of  the  domain  of  the  Iroquois. 
The  drums  of  England  were  heard  in  the  South,  and 
the  bugles  of  France  in  the  North.  Britons  stood  girt 
for  battle  behind  the  windmills  of  Manhattan  and  the 
palisades  of  Albany,  while  Gauls  from  the  ramparts 
of  Quebec,  looked  off  over  broad  forests  and  wonderful 
valleys  towards  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  awaited  the 
beginning  of  a  contest  which  was  to  determine  the  des- 
tiny of  a  continent. 

The  silence,  which  had  for  centuries  pervaded  the 
wilderness,  was  broken,  and  the  chronicler  may  be  rea- 
sonably required  to  gather  from  the  battles,  plots  and 


17 


and  diB- 


,  with  a 

H 

portions 

S 

the  Five 

m 

motimes, 

m 

Test,"  as 

M 

nohors  of 

m 

ew  found 

m 

ig-House 

^'i^^K 

Western 

igue  met 

M 

es;  their 

m 

iami,  and 

M 

over  the 

W 

aade  them 

M 

new  corn- 

M 

Enemies 

m 

nquin,  en- 

m 

)  Iroquois. 

,  ^np 

outh,  and 

r 

1  stood  girt 

xn  and  the 

1 

ramparts 

1 

"vs. 

wonderful 

ifaited  the 

i 

le  the  des- 

yaded  the 

s 

lay  be  rea- 

1 

,  plots  and 

4i 

rJ? 


treaties  which  ensued  upon  the  meeting  of  these  antag- 
onists, some  thing  which  may  be  fairly  claimed  as  part 
of  the  history  of  these  ancient  valleys.  In  the  varied 
triumphs  and  disasters  which  diversified  the  long  pro- 
tracted struggle  of  French,  English,  and  Iroquois,  it 
may  rightfully  demand  of  the  annalist  that  he  find 
some  event  in  the  history  of  these  hemlock  ravines  ovev 
which  rhetoric  may  rave,  research  puzzle,  or  poetrj 
whimper. 

But  the  conscientious  chronicler  will  \»  compelled 
to  disappoint  public  expectation.  As  the  clouds  will 
sometimes  roll  up  black  and  thunderous  in  the  West, 
so  that  cattle  fly  from  the  fields,  and  prudent  tPwnci- 
men  inspect  theii*  lightning  rods,  and  after  all  the 
storm  drifts  towards  the  North,  and  rains  floods,  and 
flings  thunderbolts  in  our  very  sight :  so  did  the  great 
political  tempest  of  colonial  times  rain  itself  dry  along 
the  shores  of  Ontario  and  the  St.  Lawrence,  while  our 
own  ill-starred  mountains  parched.  From  the  day 
when  Champlain,  the  voyager,  fired  under  the  bluflfs  of 
Ticonderoga  the  first  musket  volley  that  disturbed  th^ 
forests  of  the  Six  Nations,  down  through  a  period  of 
one  hundred  and  sixty  years,  more  than  a  half  dozen 
armies,  of  a  wild  and  picturesque  composition,  in- 
vaded, encamped,  fought,  and  besieged,  almost  within 
sight  of  the  Northern  townships  of  this  county,  but 
had  not  the  charity  to  fire  so  much  as  a  pistol  over  its 
borders.  Montcalm's  bugles  and  Bradstroet's  drums 
sounded  through  the  neighboring  groves.  Provincial 
rangers  and  i^ritons,  French  chevaliers  and  feathered 
sachems  filed  along  the  Ontario  trails.  Xhfare  w^re 
3* 


■# 


18 

treaties,  alHances,  plots  and  conventions.  There  was 
also  oooasional  oratory — as  for  example,  the  speech  of 
Oarangaala  to  De  La  Barre,  the  Canadian  Oovemor, 
a  masterpiece  of  daring  and  picturesque  irony.  Can- 
nonading at  Niagara,  at  Oswego,  at  Frontenac,  star- 
tled the  wilderness.  Yet,  though  all  this  fine  tumult 
disturbed  the  secluded  courts  of  the  Long  House,  not 
even  rumors  of  wars  agitated  the  valleys  of  the  Con- 
hocton  and  Tioga.  It  may  be  said  that  during  the 
long  contest  for  the  rich  plains  and  noble  lakes  of 
Western  Now  York,  our  old  hills  sat  quietly  apart, 
like  the  camels  of  a  captured  caravan,  while  two  hos- 
tile bands  of  robbers  quarrelled  for  the  booty. 

We  gain,  however,  a  single  glimpse  of  the  ancient 
time,  which  is  of  some  interest,  as  revealing  to  our 
view  the  first  communication  of  this  country  with  the 
civilised  world.  Two  centuries  ago  the  still  streams 
and  the  outlets  of  our  lakes  were  alive  with  beaver. 
Many  a  harmonious  phalanx  of  these  sagacious  little 
socialists  revelled  in  undisturbed  ponds,  where  they 
had  lived  generation  after  generation  since  the  flood, 
atid  busied  themselves  with  the  building  of  dams  and 
other  industrial  pursuits,  with  none  to  molest  or  make 
afraid.  At  length,  however,  remorseless  Dutch  tra- 
ders e»tablished  themselves  at  Albany,  and  combining 
with  French  merchants  in  the  forts  of  Canada,  laid 
foul  plots  against  these  tranquil  republics,  tempting 
the  barbarians  with  bells  and  bright  knives  to  begin 
the  work  of  destruction.  So  presently  the  red  hunts- 
men might  have  been  seen  skulking  through  the  wil- 
lows that'i^erhung  the  creeks,  and  setting  snares  for 


;19 


fhere  was 
speech  of 
Governor, 
^y.  Can- 
lac,  8tar- 
16  tumalt 
[ouse,  not 
the  Con- 
uring  the 
lakes  of 
tly  apart, 
B  two  hos- 
ty. 

le  ancient 
ng  to  our 
J  with  the 
ill  streams 
th  heaver, 
cions  little 
vhere  thej 
)  the  flood, 
f  dams  and 
>st  or  make 
Dotch  tra- 
oomhining 
anada,  laid 
3,  tempting 
es  to  begin 
red  hnnts- 
1^  the  wil- 
snares  for 


the  feet  of  the  honest  and  nnsuspecting  beaver.  Hun- 
dreds of  these  poor  creatures  suddenly  found  them- 
selves bereft  of  their  fur,  and  long-limbed  savages, 
laden  with  ill-got  plunder,  hurried  through  the 
forests  to  the  forts  of  the  rapacious  traders.  Thuf 
the  first  demand  of  the  aristocracy  of  Europe  upon 
our  county  was  for  the  hides  of  its  citizens — a  very 
singular  request,  and  one  which  the  indignant  repub- 
lican will  remember  in  connection  with  the  tribute  paid 
at  this  day  to  the  Royalty  of  Hanover.  t«  'kup 

A  little  more  than  a  century  after  the  massacre  of 
the  beaver,  the  Revolutionary  war  was  raging  through 
the  land.  Here  again  the  Historic  Muse  displaiyed 
her  ungraciousness,  and  refused  to  refresh  onr  parch-* 
ing  chronicles  with  a  single  skirmish.  While  the 
whole  neighborhood  in  the  North,  East,  and  South, 
was  alive  with  rangers  and  Indians,  and  rang  daily 
with  conflicts,  scalpings,  and  burnings,  silence  of  the 
grave  reigned  in  our  slumbering  forests.  The  utmost 
that  can  be  said  for  our  county  in  setting  up  a  revo- 
lutionary claim  for  it  is,  that  it  was  sometimes  a  place 
of  preparation  for  the  ferocious  allies  of  Great  Britam 
before  their  attacks  on  the  frontiers,  and  a  place  of 
retreat  after  the  slaughter.  The  utmost  border  settle- 
ments of  our  countrymen  at  that  time  in  the  States  of 
New  York  and  Pennsylvania  were  in  the  upper  valley 
of  the  Mohawk,  on  the  head  waters  of  the  Susque- 
hanna, west  of  the  Catskills,  in  the  Wyoming  coun- 
try, and  on  the  west  Branch  of  the  Susquehanna* 
Down  the  valleys  of  the  Conhocton,  Canisteo,  and 
Chemung,  and  up  the  valley  of  the  Tioga,  ran  the 


20 


trails  by  which  sometimes  the  Tories  and  Indians  stole 
upon  the  settlements  in  Pennsylvania  from  Fort  Nia* 
gara,  and  by  which  again  their  bands,  like  hounds  re- 
taming  from  the  hunt,  hurried  to  that  notorious  old 
kennel  to  be  fed  by  their  keepers. 
.^  Hardly  a  fact,  however,  with  regard  to  the  move- 
ments  of  our  county's   primitive  citizens  during  the 
war  is  preserved  Cor  us.     An  intrepid  imagination 
might  do  much  toward  filling  this  unfortunate  blank  in 
our  annals,  but  till  such  a  one  assumes  the  task,  each 
one  must  be  content  to  make  a  Revolutionary  History 
for  himself  o«t  of  such  hints  as  may  lawfully  be  sug- 
gested.   Each  must  imagine  as  he  can  the  wolfish  fra- 
ternity of  Tories  and  Indians  traversing  the  war-trails 
of  our  wilderness.     Hiakatoo,  Little  Beard,  Brant, 
and  the  Great  Captains  of  the  Six  Nations  holding 
council  under  elm-trees  by  the  Chemung — the  British 
officer,  conspicuous  with  his  sash  and  pistols,  confer- 
ring by  moonlight  with  savage  chieftains  that  lean  on 
their  rifles,  without  the  encampment,  on  the  river 
bank,  where  the  wild  warriors  are  sleeping — the  occa- 
sional squadron  of  canoes  gliding  down  the  swift 
itream  toward  the  farms  below  on  the  Susquehanna. 
'  Now  a  file  of  barbarians  descends  the  Canisteo  trail 
from  the  north,  turns  up  the  Tioga  and  disappears. 
Soon  their  hatchets  glitter  afar  off  on  the  Laurel  Ridge. 
Next  is  heard  at  midnight  the  ringing  of  rifles  on  the 
West  Branch,  and  the  shouting  of   the  borderers 
as  the   blaze  of  their  cabins  lights  up    thewooded 
cliffs  around.    Strange  processions  sometimes  strag- 
gle  up  thf  vallies.    Now   the  mongrel  hounds  of 


mi 


I 

f 


of 
uni 


21 


lans  stole 

I'ort  Nia- 

)unds  re- 

Irious  old 

e  move- 
ring  the 
agination 
blank  in 
ask,  each 
Y  History 
y  be  sug- 
elfish  fra- 
war-trails 
d,  Brant, 
is  holding 
ihe  British 
»ls,  confer- 
lat  lean  on 
the  riyer 
-the  occa- 
the  swift 
quehanna. 
iisteo  trail 
isappears. 
rel  Ridge, 
ies  on  the 
borderers 
thewooded 
nes  strag- 
lounds  of 


9 


i 


old  Fort  Niagara  return  from  encounters  with  the  for- 
esters of  Pennsylvania,  shattered  and  discomfited; 
but  again  the  marauders  return  with  scalps  dangling  at 
their  belts,  hurrying  along  captives,  women  and  chil- 
dren who  grow  weary  and  are  tomahawked,  and  also 
stout  and  weary  woodsmen  who  must  be  bound  and 
watched  lest  they  rise  in  the  night  and  beat  out  the 
brains  of  their  captors. 

In  the  midst  of  the  war  the  first  lumbermen  of  the 
Canisteo  may  be  seen  on  its  upper  waters  hewing  down 
pine  trees,  and  shaping  them  by  fire  and  steel  into 
canoes.  One  would  in  vain  search  for  the  peers  of  that 
savage  gang  among  the  boisterous  raftmen  who,  in 
modern  day  build  their  fleet  in  the  eddies  of  that  quiet 
stream.  When  the  work  is  done  and  the  little  galleys 
are  launched,  what  a  lovely  crew  embarks !  The  But- 
lers with  their  merciless  renegades,  the  chosen  chiefs 
of  the  Six  Nations,  the  fiercest  soldiers  of  the  forest, 
all  with  their  war  trapping  and  weapons  ride  in  the 
slender  canoes  down  the  stream — down  through  the  si- 
lent gorges,  over  the  brawling  rifts — then  emerging 
from  island-groves  of  elm  descend  the  strong  Tioga, 
then  bending  their  long  file  into  the  Chemung,  disappear 
beyond  our  borders  in  that  blue  notch  chosen  for  the 
river's  course  in  the  hills  below.  This  was  the  Armada 
that  bore  the  destroyers  of  Wyoming.* 

*  The  canoes  which  tarried  a  large  party  of  Tories  and  Indians  to 
Wyoming  in  1*7*78,  were  made  on  the  Oaoisteo.  At  the  settlement 
of  the  upper  valley  of  that  river  the  trunks  of  trees,  which  proving 
unfit  for  use  had  been  abandoned  after  having  been  partially  wrought, 
with  other  traces  of  work,  and  some  tools  and  weapons,  were  found 


■fWi 


22 

{^ulliTan's  two  hundred  barges  move  from  Otsego 
ilnd  Wilkesbarre  to  Newtown.  His  five  thousand  men 
diaroh  northward  through  the  wilderness,  bare! j  brush- 
ing the  edge  of  our  county.  We  hear  a  great  crack- 
ling of  villages  on  fire,  of  burning  corn-stacks,  and  a 
Kvelj  crashing  of  orchards  and  skirmishing  of  scouts, 
but  a  few  miles  from  our  northern  towns.  That  lin- 
gular fatality  however  which  marks  our  earliest  history 
forbids  a  scout  to  be  tortured,  a  corporal  to  be  scalped, 
or  even  a  pack-horse  to  be  beheaded  within  the  baili- 
wick of  our  own  Sheriff.  A  few  adventurous  boatmen, 
however  moved  up  the  Chemung  to  see  what  land  might, 
lie  on  the  upper  branches  of  that  unknown  river.*  ^^  - 

on  the  farm  of  CoL  J.  R.  Stephens  near  Homelsville.    The  settlers 
had  this  fact  also  from  the  Indians. 


1 


'.t 


*  Qen.  Sulliyan,  invaded  the  territory  of  the  Six  Nations  in  1779, 
penetrated  the  midst  of  their  forests,  destroyed  many  of  their  vil- 
lages, cut  down  their  orchards,  laid  waste  their  cornfields,  and  inflict- 
ed on  these  impracticable  savages  a  portion  of  the  miseries  which 
the  frontiers  had  suffered  from  their  hands  during  the  previous  years 
of  the  war.  The  destruction  of  life,  however,  was  but  inconsidera- 
ble. The  Indians  and  Tories  made  a  stand  at  Newtown,  but  were 
rammarily  routed.  The  residue  of  the  fighting  in  the  campaign  waa 
adjusted  by  scouting  parties. 

The  traditions  held  by  some  that  detachments  of  this  army  pene- 
trated Steuben  county,  are  probably  without  foundation.  The  oldest 
settlers  consulted  in  the  preparation  of  this  sketch  (Oapt.  Woolcott 
and  Judge  Knox  of  the  town  of  Coming,)  did  not  hear  of  the  ru- 
mored ddrmiflh  at  the  brook  called  "  Bloody  Run"  in  the  old  town  of 
Painted  Post  At  the  thne  of  the  settlement,  however,  there  were 
painted  trees  near  that  stream  where  ths  Indiana  were  said  (or  gues- 
sed) to  have  tortured  prisoners.  Sullivan  moved  from  Newtown, 
(Elmira)  to  the  bead  of  the  Seneca  by  the  Horseheads  (where  he 


,* 


I    mon 


proj 
I  say, 
;|  somi 


23 


OtsegO' 
and  men 
y  brush- 

crack- 
:s,  and  a 

SCOtttS) 

hat  elin- 
it  history 
scalped, 
the  baili- 
boatmen, 
nd  might, 
iver.*  ^i?s 

The  8«ttlera 

ions  io  1*779, 
of  their  vil- 
[s,  and  inflict- 
iserica  which 
revioua  years 
,  inconsidera- 
ini,  but  were 
»mpaign  waa 

IS  army  pene- 
I.  The  oldest 
apt.  Woolcott 
ar  of  the  ru- 
je  oW  town  of 
;r,  there  were 
said  (or  gued- 
om  Newtown, 
ids  (where  he 


It  appears,  therefore,  that  Steubqn  County,  from  the 
earliest  ages  to  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  w»S 
but  a  jungle  of  barbarism,  without  name  and  without 
history.  Invading  whirlwinds  sometimes  crushed  the 
hemlocks  of  the  hills  in  their  courses,  insurgent  fiooda 
sometimes  poured  through  the  defiles  with  a  tumult 
like  the  roar  of  a  multitude,  and  l^e  rival  houses  of 
wolf  and  bear,  enlivened  the  wilderness  with  civil 
strife ;  but  concerning  human  onslaughts  and  insurrec- 
tions, the  chroniclers  of  the  Six  Nations  are  silent, 
and  the  hope  of  recovering  the  memory  of  them  must 
be  forever  dismissed.  It  remains,  tben,  only  to  consi- 
der how  the  race  which  broke  into  these  solitudes  after 
the  Revolution  acquired  their  title  to  the  same,  and 
how  they  accomplished  the  great  work  which  this  day 
beholds  performed. 

The  freeholders  of  Steuben  County  generally  derive 
their  titles  from  Sir  William  Pulteney,  of  England, 
and  his  heirs.  Sir  William  acquired  his  title  from 
Robert  Morris,  Morris  from  Phelps  and  Gorbam,  the 
latter  from  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  and  that  com- 
monwealth held  under  the  Royal  Charter  of  James  I, 
King  of  Great  Britain.  How  King  James  became  the 
proprietor  of  this  tract  of  land,  it  would  not  be  easy  to 
say,  unless  we  adopt  the  presumption  which  the  law 
sometimes  establishes  in  cases  of  unaccountable  pos- 

killed  a  large  number  of  pack-horses,)  thence  between  the  lakes  to 
the  outlet,  thence  to  the  (icnesee,  and  returned  by  the  same  route. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  official  report  of  the  General,  or  in  the  pub- 
lished journals  of  officers  accompanying  the  expedition,  to  support 
the  traditions  alluded  to.  :    i^^  ic  i..„.  . 


mtm 


^ 


session  of  chattels,  and  aver  that  he  *'  casually  found 
it."  nhii'j 

^'  The  grants  of  the  colonies  of  Massachusetts  and 
Connecticut,  comprised  yast  tracts  of  land  extending 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  including  large 
portions  of  the  present  States  of  New  York  and  Penn- 
sylvania. The  latter  provinces  loudly  denied  the 
validity  of  the  royal  grants,  so  far  as  they  affected  the 
territory  within  their  boundaries,  as  at  present  settled, 
and  the  controversy  arising  from  the  claims  of  their 
sister  provinces,  was  a  fruitful  source  of  correspond- 
ence and  worse,  between  the  rival  claimants.  In  Penn- 
sylvania it  proceeded  to  blows.  Colonists  from  Connec- 
ticut established  themselves  in  the  famous  valley  of 
Wyoming,  and  resisted  with  arms  the  edicts  of  the  As- 
sembly and  the  ofiScers  of  the  high  courts  of  the  latter 
commonwealth.  Heads  were  bruised,  bones  broken, 
crops  destroyed,  settlements  plundered,  and  even  lives 
lost,  and  the  peace  of  the  Susquehanna  Valley  was 
destroyed  by  a  feud  worthy  of  the  middle  ages.  In 
1774,  for  example,  an  army  of  700  Pennsylvanians 
moved  up  the  river  to  conquer  the  intruders,  but  at 
the  defile  of  Nanticoke,  their  boats  being  stopped  by 
an  ice- jam,  and  themselves  confronted  by  a  fortifica- 
tion, hostilities  were  terminated  by  a  rousing  volley 
from  the  bushes,  and  a  rousing  volley  into  the  bushes, 
the  latter  killing  one  man.* 

The  controversy  between  New  York  and  Massachu- 
setts never  reached  such  deplorable  virulence  as  that 

*Life  of  Major  Van  Oampen. 


.;V,"t 


:  ty, 


#f 


surl 

eae 

rai 

di^ 

anc 


25 


illy  found 

setts  and 

extending 

ding  large 

and  Penn- 

enied  the 

flfected  the 

^nt  settled, 

as  of  their 

orrespond- 

I.  InPenn- 

)m  Connec- 

is  valley  of 

B  of  the  As- 

»f  the  latter 

nes  broken  y 

d  even  lives 

Valley  was 

Q  ages.     In 

msylvanians 

ders,  but  at 

stopped  by 

f  a  fortifiea- 

using  volley 

>  the  bushes, 

1  Massachu- 
ence  as  that 


.t.-r«Kj-«br.-2.  «    1 


between  the  other  two  provinces.  In  the  war  of  Re- 
volution, private  quarrels  were  by  common  consent  sus- 
pended, and  not  long  after  that  contest,  the  diflSculty 
was  adjusted.  On  the  16th  day  of  December,  1786, 
by  a  compact  entered  into  between  the  States  of  New 
York  and  Massachusetts,  it  was  agreed  that  the  latter 
State  should  release  to  the  former  all  claim  of  sove- 
reignty over  lands  lying  within  the  present  boundaries 
of  the  former,  and  that  the  State  of  New  York  should 
release  and  confirm  to  the  State  of  Massachusetts  the 
right  of  pre-emption  of  the  soil  from  the  Indians,  of 
the  greater  part  of  New  York  lying  west  of  Seneca 
Lake. 

On  the  21st  day  of  November,  1788,  the  State  of 
Massachusetts,  for  the  consideration  of  three  hundred 
thousand  pounds  in  the  consolidated  securities  of  that 
State,  (J100,000,)  conveyed  to  Oliver  Phelps  and  Na- 
thaniel Gorham,  all  its  right,  title,  and  interest  to 
lands  in  Western  New  York,  which  now  constitute  the 
counties  of  Steuben,  Yates,  Ontario,  part  of  Wayne, 
most  of  Monroe,  a  small  part  of  Genesee  and  Living- 
ston, and  about  one  half  of  Allegany';  containing  about 
2,600,000  acres.  The  Indian  title  to  this  tract  had 
been  purchased  by  Messrs.  Phelps  &  Gorham  by  trea- 
ty, at  a  convention  held  at  Buffalo,  in  July,  1788. 

The  purchasers  speedily  caused  their  lands  to  be 
surveyed  and  divided  into  seven  ranges,  numbered  from 
east  to  west  by  lines  running  north  and  south.  The 
ranges,  which  were  six  miles  in  width,  were  sub- 
divided into  townships  designed  to  be  six  miles  square, 

and  the  townships  were  farther  sub-divided  into  lots. 
4 


26 


That  portion  of  the  purchase  which  now  constitutes 
Steuben  County,  was  surveyed  for  Phelps  &  Gorham 
by  Frederick  Saxton,.  Augustus  Porter,  now  of  Niag- 
ara Falls,  Thomas  Davis  and  Robert  James,  (or  by  the 
two  first  named,)  in  the  summer  of  1789.  Judge  Por- 
ter, in  his  narrative,  published  in  Turner's  History  of 
the  Holland  Purchase,  says,  with  regard  to  this  survey, 
*'  While  engaged  in  it,  we  made  our  head-quarters  at 
Painted  Post,  on  the  Conhocton  River,  at  the  house  of 
old  Mr.  Harris  and  his  son  William.  These  two  men, 
Mr.  Goodhue,  who  lived  near  by,  and  Mr.  Mead,  who 
lived  at  the  mouth  of  Mead's  Creek,  were  the  only- 
persons  then  on  the  territory  we  were  surveying." 

Mr.  Phelps  opened  an  office  for  the  sale  of  land  at 
Canandaigua.  The  fame  of  the  Genesee  Country  had 
been  spread  through  all  the  East.  Sullivan's  soldiers 
brought  from  the  wilderness  glowing  accounts  of  vast 
meadows  and  luxurient  orchards  hidden  amongst  the 
forests  of  the  Six  Nations,  and  the  adventurous  men 
of  New  England  and  Pennsylvania  were  not  backward 
to  seek  new  homes  in  the  fastnesses  of  their  old  ene- 
mies. Before  the  middle  of  November,  in  1790,  about 
50  townships  had  been  sold,  the  most  of  which  were 
purchased  by  the  township  or  half  township,  ::;;  iiidi- 
viduals  or  companies  of  farmers.* 

The  settlement  of  Steuben  County  was  commenced 
under  grants  from  Messrs.  Phelps  and  Gorham,  but 
for  convenience  the  whole  history  of  the  title  to  the 
county  may  be  here  stated. 


*Turner'a  HuUand  Purchas«. 


I- 


27 

Messrs.  Phelps  and  Gorham,  by  deed  dated  the  18th 
day  of  November,  1790,  conveyed  to  Robert  Morris 
of  Philadelphia,  (the  patriotic  merchant  of  Revolution- 
ary memory)  the  residue  of  their  lands  remaining  un- 
sold, amounting  to  about  a  million  and  a  quarter 
acres. 

Robert  Morris,  by  deed  dated  the  11th  day  of  April, 
1792,  conveyed  to  Charles  Williamson  about  one 
million  two  hundred  thousand  acres  of  the  Phelps  and 
Gorham  tract,  which  has  been  since  known  as  the 
Pulteney  estate.  Mr.  Williamson  held  this  estate  in 
secret  trust  for  Sir  William  Pulteney,  an  English 
Baronet,  and  others.  In  March,  1801,  Mr.  William- 
son conveyed  the  estate  formally  to  Sir  William 
Pulteney,  an  act  having  been  passed  by  the  Legisla- 
ture of  New  York  in  1798,  authorizing  conveyances  to 
aliens  for  the  term  of  three  years.  This  conveyance 
was  made  three  days  before  the  expiration  of  the  act 
by  its  own  limitation. 

Sir  William  Pulteney  was  the  son  of  Sir  James 
Johnstone.  He  assumed  the  name  of  Pulteney  on  his 
marriage  with  Mrs.  Pulteney,  niece  of  the  Earl  of 
Bath,  and  daughter  of  General  Pulteney.  He  died 
in  1805,  leaving  Henrietta  Laura  Pulteney,  Countess 
of  Bath,  his  only  heir.  Lady  Bath  died  in  1808,  in- 
testate. The  Pulteney  estate  descended  to  Sir  John 
Lowther  Johnstone,  of  Scotland,  her  cousin  and  heir-at- 
law.  Sir  John  Lowther  Johnstone  died  in  1811,  and 
devised  the  estate  in  fee  to  Ernest  Augustus  Duke  of 
Cumberland,  (since  King  of  Hanover,)  Charles  Herbert 
Pierrepoint,  Masterton  Ure  and  David  Cathcart  (Lord 


I 


28 

Alloway,)  in  trusfc,  nevertheless,  to  sell  the  same  as 
speedily  as  possible,  and  to  pay  and  discharge  the  in- 
cumbrances on  his  estates  in  England  and  Scotland, 
and  to  purchase  copyhold  estates  adjacent  to  his 
estates  in  Scotland.  John  Gordon  was  afterwards 
appointed  a  trustee  of  the  estate,  in  the  place  of 
Pierrepoint  (the  Earl  of  Manvers,)  who  in  1819  re- 
linquished his  trust.  The  present  trustees  (since  the 
death  of  the  King  of  Hanover)  are  Masterton  Ure  and 
John  Gordon. 

The  policy  of  the  proprietors  and  trustees  has  been 
to  sell  the  lands  as  rapidly  as  possible  to  actual  set- 
tlers. In  sixty  years,  as  might  be  expected,  by  far 
the  greatest  and  most  valuable  portion  of  the  State  has 
been  disposed  of,  but  considerable  tracts  of  wild  land 
yet  remain  unsold. 

The  validity  of  the  title  to  the  Pulteney  estate  has 
never  been  the  subject  of  judicial  construction  in  the 
highest  court  of  the  State.  A  cause  now  before  the 
Court  of  Appeals,  (decided  in  favor  of  the  proprietors 
in  the  Supreme  Court,)  will  pobably  set  at  rest  the 
question  of  title. 


lum  ^liU 


t  at 


>Jt«atJ 


^"^-U.i^ 


ky^n. 


?si 


'nu 


n'^ni,Ny   '  ^i^K 


-m 


t 


aine  as 
the  in- 
lotland, 
to  his 
erwards 
)lace  of 
819  re- 
ince  the 
[J  re  and 

has  been 
tual  set- 
1,  by  far 
State  has 
wild  land 

estate  has 
ion  in  the 
before  the 
proprietors 
i  rest  the 


l  fit 


v^-Jt 


I 


I 


CHAPTER  II. 

STEUBEN  COUNTY  IMMEDIATELY  BEFORE  ITS  SETTLE- 
MENT— A  JOURNEY  SIXTY-FIVE  YEARS  AGO — THE 
FOREST — THE  RIVERS,  &e. — SKETCH  OF  BENJAMIN 
PATTERSON,  THE  HUNTER — SKIRMISH  AT  FREELAND'S 
FORT-^SCUFFLE  WITH  "  THE  INTERPRETER" — THE 
WILD  OX  OF  GENESEE  FLATS. 

On  the  morning  of  Christmas-day,  in  the  year  1787, 
a  backwoodsman  and  an  Indian  issued  from  the  door 
of  a  log  cabin  which  stood  half  buried  in  snow  on  the 
point  of  land  lying  between  the  Cowenisque  Creek  and 
the  Tioga  River,  at  the  junction  of  those  streams,  and 
set  forth  on  the  ice  of  the  river  for  a  journey  to  the 
settlements  below.  They  were  clad  according  to  the 
rude  fashions  of  the  frontiers  and  the  forest,  in  gar- 
ments partly  obtained  by  barter  from  outpost  traders, 
and  partly  stripped  by  robbery  from  the  beasts  of  the 
forest.  Tomahawks  and  knives  were  stuck  in  their  belts, 
snow  shoes  were  bound  to  their  feet,  and  knapsacks  of 
provisions  were  lashed  to  their  backs.  Such  was  the 
equipment  deemed  necessary  for  travellers  in  Steuben 
County  not  a  century  ago. 

The  snow  lay  upon  the  ground  four  full  feet  in 
depth.  It  was  brought  from  the  north  in  one  of  those 
might  storms  which  in  former  days  often  swept  down 


0tm 


30 


from  Canadian  regions  and  poured  the  treasures  of  the 
snowy  zone  on  our  colonial  forests — storms  which  sel- 
dom visit  us  in  modern  days — as  if  the  passage  of  tariff 
bills,  which  have  cramped  the  operations  of  many  heavy 
British-American  firms,  had  made  it  impracticable  fov 
Polar  capitalists   to  introduce  their  fabrics  into  tld 
Commonwealth  of  New  York  with  the  profusion  which 
-was  encouraged  in  the  times  of  the  English  governors. 
The  pioneer  and  his  savage  comrade  pursued  their 
journey  on  the  ice.     The  Tioga  was  then  a  wild  and 
free  river.     From  its  source,  far  up  in  tUe  "  Magnolia 
hills"  of  the  old  provincial  maps,  down  to  its  union 
with  the  equally  wild  and  free  Conhocton,  no  device  of 
civilized  man  fretted  its  noble  torrent.     A  single  habi- 
tation of  human  beings  stood  upon  its  banks,  the  log 
cabin  at  the  mouth  of  the  Cowenisquo  ;  and  that  was 
the  westernmost  cabin  of  New  York.'*    But  it  bore  now 
upon  its  frozen  surface  the  forerunner  of  an  unresting 
race  of  lumbermen  and  farmers,  who  in  a  few  years  in- 
vaded its  peaceful  solitudes,  dammed  its  wild  flood, 
and  hewed  down  the  lordly  forests  through  which  it 
flowed.     The  travellers  kept  on  their  course  beyond 
the  mouth  of  the  Canisteo  to  the  Painted  Post.     Here 
they  expected  to  find  the  cabin  of  one  Harris,  a  trader, 
where  they  might  have  lodgings  for  the  night,  and,  if 
necessary  for  the  comfort  of  the  savage  breast,  a 
draught  from  *'  the  cup  which  cheers  (and  also)  inebri- 
ates."    On  their  arrival  at  the  head  of  the  Chemung, 

*  In  strict  truth,  the  cabin  stood  in  Pennsylvania,  a  few  fods  from 
the  New  York  line.  *•*"  **        '  'i  " 


it 


of 


81 

however,  they  found  that  the  cabin  had  been  destroyed 
by  fire.  The  trader  had  either  been  murdered  by  the 
Indians,  or  devoured  by  wild  beasts,  or  else  he  had  left 
the  country,  and  Steuben  County  was  in  consequence 
depopulated. 

Disappointed  in  this  hope,  the  two  travellers  con- 
tinued their  journey  on  the  ice  as  far  as  Big  Flats. 
Here  night  overtook  them.  They  kindled  a  fire  on 
the  bank  of  the  river,  and  laid  them  down  to  sleep. 
The  air  was  intensely  cold.  It  was  one  of  those  clear, 
still,  bitter  nights,  when  the  moon  seems  an  iceberg, 
and  the  stars  are  bright  and  sharp  like  hatchets.  The 
savage  rolled  himself  up  in  his  blanket,  lay  with  his 
back  to  the  fire,  and  did  not  so  much  as  stir  till  the 
morning ;  but  his  companion,  though  framed  of  that 
stout  stuff  out  of  which  backwoodsmen  are  built,  could 
not  sleep  for  the  intensity  of  the  cold.  At  midnight  a 
pack  of  wolves  chased  a  deec  from  the  woods  to  the 
river,  seized  the  wretched  animal  on  the  ice,  tore  it  to 
pieces  and  devoured  it  within  ten  rods  of  the  encamp- 
ment. Early  in  the  morning  the  travellers  arose  and 
went  their  way  to  the  settlements  below,  the  first  of 
which  was  Newtown,  on  the  sight  of  the  present  village 
of  Elmira. 

Such  is  One  of  the  earliest  glimpses  of  our  county 
granted  us.  Journies  are  performed  in  rather  a  differ- 
ent manner  now!  The  incidents  of  the  trip  sound 
oddly  enough  to  the  ear  of  the  modern  traveller — the 
excursion  on  snow  shoes — the  possible  destruction  of 
the  village  of  Painted  Post  by  the  Indians — the  en- 
campment and  eight  fire  under  the  trees  by  the  river 


82 


I 


bank,  on  a  stinging  Christmns  night,  while  frost-bitten 
wolves  regaled  the  ears  6f  the  travellers  with  dismal 
howling!  The  backwoodsman  was  Samuel  Baker,  a 
New  Englander,  afterwards  well  known  to  our  citizens 
as  Judge  Baker,  of  Pleasant  Valley. 

This  is  a  winter  scene.  The  Descriptive  and  His- 
torical "  Citizen  "  gives  in  his  sketch*  a  summer  pic- 
ture,— "  a  picture  of  our  county  as  it  was  a  few  sum- 
mers before  the  irruption  of  the  backwoodsmen ;  for 
this,  the  figure  of  our  rugged  home  arrayed  in  its  an- 
cient and  barbarous  yet  picturesque  and  noble  garb,  is 
one  which  the  reflecting  citizen  will  sometime  contem- 
plate in  imagination,  with  pleasure,  and  not  without 
some  degree  of  wonder. 

"  On  a  summer's  day,  shortly  after  the  close  of  the 
War  of  Revolution,  let  the  observing  citizen  stand  with 
me  on  an  exceedingly  high  mountain  and  survey  the 
land.  It  is  a  vast  solitude,  with  scarce  a  sound  to 
break  the  reigning  silence  but  the  splashing  of  the 
brooks  in  their  defiles,  and  the  brawling  of  the  rivers 
at  the  rifts,  or  perhaps  the  creaking  of  sulky  old  hem- 
locks as  the  light  wind  stirs  their  branches  or  sways 
their  tottering  trunks  slowly  to  and  fro.  What  a  noble 
forest  is  this,  covering  the  valleys  and  the  high, 
rounded  hills,  and  the  steep  sides  of  the  winding  gulfs, 
and  the  crests  of  the  successive  ranges  that  rise  above 
each  other  till  the  outline  of  a  blue  and  carving  barrier 
is  traced  against  the  sky.  For  ages  upon  ages  has  this 
land  been  a  wilderness.     Savages  have  hunted  in  it. 

*  "Descriptive  and  Historical  Sketch  of  Steuben  County," — 
(M  S.)  politely  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Editor  of  this  yolume. 


m 


'  88 

Storms  have  passed  over  it,  and  its  history  would  pre- 
sent but  a  record  of  wild  beasts  slain,  of  trees  uprooted, 
and  of  the  passage  of  terrible  whirlwinds  which  broke 
wide  lanes  through  the  forest  and  overthrew  the  tim- 
bers of  whole  hill-sides.  See  how  the  three  rivers  flow 
through  groves  of  elm  and  willow,  while  the  white 
sycamores,  standing  on  unmolested  islands,  raise  aloft 
their  long  branches  where  the  cranes  rest  with  the 
plunder  of  the  shallows.  Free  rivers  are  these,  flow- 
ing joyously  through  the  channels  provided  for  them  of 
old,  shackled  by  no  dams,  insulted  by  no  bridges,  tor- 
mented by  no  saw-mills.  They  bear  with  gladness  the 
occasional  canoo  of  the  people  that  gave  them  their 
sounding  names  ;  they  give  drink  to  the  heated  deer, 
to  the  panther,  and  the  wallowing  bear, — disgusted  by 
no  base-born  beasts  of  the  yoke  wading  their  stony 
fords,  nor  by  geese  swimming  in  their  clear  waters, 
nor  by  swine  lounging  in  the  warm  mud  of  the  eddies. 
See,  also,  the  lakes  sleeping  in  the  hollows  prepared 
for  them  anciently,  their  bluifs  and  beaches  occupied 
even  to  the  water's  edge  with  forest  trees,  while  soli- 
tary loons  and  fleets  of  wild  fowl  cruise  on  their  waters, 
scared  by  neither  the  wheels  of  the  passing  steamer, 
nor  by  the  whistling  bullets  of  fowlers.  Behold  too 
the  creeks,  the  brooks,  the  torrents,  leaping  down  from 
the  highlands  like  hearty  young  mountaineers;  while  in 
the  ravines  through  which  they  brawl  the  great  pines 
stand  as  if  dreaming,  unconscious  that  their  gigantic 
trunks  contain  spars  and  saw-logs. 

'^  But  the  forest  is  not  destitute  of  an  active  popu- 
lace    Bears  sit  groyrling  at  the  windows  of  their  tow- 


^mei^ *■"•" 


34 

ers  in  the  hollow  tre^s ;  painted  catamounts  lurk  in  the 
glens;  panthers  crouch  on  the  low  branches  of  the 
oaks ;  elk  and  many  thousand  deer  are  standing  in  the 
ponds  or  browsirc;  in  the  thickets  ;  while  hungry  gangs 
of  wolyes  rove  at  dusk  thi  ough  the  groves  with  dismal 
howling.  And  these  are  not  the  only  citizens  of  the 
wood.  There  we  see  the  myriads  of  squirrels,  the 
wood-fowls  whistling  and  drumming  in  the  thickets, 
the  old  and  clumsy  sons  of  the  she-bear  tumbling  in 
the  leaves  in  their  awkward  play,  the  comical  raccoons 
frolicking  in  the  tree-tops,  while  the  wise  and  sober 
woodchuck  goes  forth  alone,  and  the  otter  cruises  in 
the  still  waters  of  the  streams. 

'  "  All  these  things,  let  the  observing  citizen  mark, — 
these  far  rolling  forests,  these  silent  lakes  and  wild 
rivers,  these  savage  creeks  and  torrents,  these  gorges 
and  wooded  glens,  these  deep-worn  valleys  and  the  ab- 
rupt ranges  that  bound  them,  and  the  promontories 
that  jut  from  the  everchanging  outlines  of  the  ranges, — 
all  as  they  were  in  the  ancient  time  before  I  begin  the 
story  of  their  conquest, — a  half  melancholy  story  ;  for 
who  can  think  how  these  solitudes  were  broken  up  and 
these  fine  forests  mangled  without  a  half-regretful 
thought? 

•  **  The  wilderness  is  doomed.  Even  now  as  we  stand 
on  the  mountain  the  men  who  will  invade  it  are  astir. 
Down  on  the  Susquehanna  uneasy  farmers  are  already 
working  their  way  upward  in  broad  barges;  uneasy 
New  Englanders  are  already  launching  canoes  on  the 
Unadilla,  which  will  find  their  way  hither.  Even  now 
Scotchmen,  Irishmen,  and  Englishmen  are  tossing  on 


35 

the  seas  who  in  a  few  years  will  live  in  these  valleys, 
farmers  and  tradesmen,  and  even  supervisors,  Justices 
of  the  Peace,  and  Judges.  Barbarism,  drawing  its 
fantastic  blanket  over  its  shoulders,  and  clutching  its 
curiously-wrought  tomahawk,  must  withdraw  to  other 
solitudes,  jingling  its  brazen  ornaments  and  whooping 
as  it  goes." 

Such  was  our  County  as  seen  by  the  "  Citizen"  be- 
fore the  year  1787.  There  are  a  few  additional  facts 
which  escaped  his  notice  on  the  *^  exceedingly  high 
mountain,"  which  may  with  propriety  be  mentioned 
before  proceeding  to  the  narration  of  events  connected 
with  the  settlement. 

« 

This  whole  region, — especially  that  part  of  it  occu- 
pied by  the  valleys  of  the  Conhocton  and  Canisteo, — 
was  of  old  one  of  the  best  hunting  grounds  belonging 
to  the  Six  Nations,  and  was  visited  in  the  winter  and 
autumn  by  large  parties  of  Seneca  Indians,  who  came 
from  their  villages  on  the  Genesee  for  the  destruction 
of  game.  It  was  a  royal  park  indeed — and  yet  of 
course  not  such  a  park  as  the  elegant  deer-folds  of 
Europe  thus  named — but  rather  like  those  rugged  and 
unkempt  Asiatic  parks,  where  the  Nimrods  and  Cy- 
ruses of  old,  with  their  peers  and  captains,  made  war 
upon  lions  and  tigers,  and  boars ;  only  here  were  un- 
fortunately neither  boars,  nor  tigers,  nor  lions,  and, 
to  speak  truly,  but  shabby  substitutes  for  such  noble 
game.  It  was  only  when  the  wild  huntsman  grappled 
with  the  wounded  panther  or  scuffled  with  the  angry 
bear,  or  dodged  the  horns  of  the  furious  stag,  that  the 
perils  of  the  chase  deserved  record  with  the  exploits  of 


86 

those  worthies  of  old,  who  pricked  lions  in  the  jungles 
with  their  Assyrian  pikes.  Still,  of  very  rude  and 
ugly  beasts  there  was  no  scarcity.  Of  bears  and  pan- 
thers there  were  quite  as  many  as  the  County  could 
support  even  under  a  system  of  direct  taxation  for  that 
purpose,  and  when  we  take  into  account  beside  these, 
the  large  and  happy  communities  of  rattlesnakes  and 
catamounts  which  flourished  in  eligible  localities,  there 
is  no  reason  why  the  patriotic  citizen  should  feel  mor- 
tified at  our  county's  ancient  census  returns. 

There  are  certain  facts  with  regard  to  the  rivers 
which  do  not  appear  in  the  Citizen's  "  Sketch."  Be- 
fore the  settlement  of  the  county,  the  rivers  were  much 
deeper,  stronger,  and  steadier,  than  they  are  at  the 
present  day.  In  modern  times  they  are  notoriously 
unreliable  servants  of  the  people — sometimes  reducing 
the  saw-mills  to  half-rations,  and  confining  the  eels  to 
limited  elbow-room ;  anon  rising  above  their  banks, 
flooding  the  flats,  sweeping  away  piles  of  lumber,  and 
testing  the  labors  of  the  commissioners  of  highways 
and  bridges,  as  is  the  undoubted  right  of  every  river 
in  this  republican  land.  The  destruction  of  the  forests 
has  caused  the  drying  up  of  multitudes  of  little  springs 
which  formerly,  by  their  penny  contributions  to  the 
great  sinking-fund,  swelled  appreciably  the  treasures 
of  the  streams.  Freshets  can  be  had  on  shorter  notice 
now  than  then,  but  they  are  of  shorter  duration.  Then, 
the  snow  melting  in  the  woods  slowly,  caused  the 
March  and  April  floods  to  be  deliberate  and  of  long 
continuance.  Now,  the  snow  falling  upon  bare  hills 
and  open  farms,  melts  rapidly  at  sunshine  and  shower, 


37     . 

rushes  into  the  ravines  and  swells  the  creeks  with  vio- 
lent and  short-lived  freshets.  Mary  channels  which 
were  formerly  the  beds  of  petty,  but  perennial  brooks, 
are  now  "  dry  runs,"  except  after  rains,  when  they 
are  filled  with  powerful  torrents.  The  State  Geolo- 
gist apprehends  serious  inconvenience  from  the  failure 
of  water,  if  the  destruction  of  tho  forest  is  continued 
in  the  future  as  extravagantly  as  during  the  last  fifty 
years. 

Our  ancient  rivers,  in  addition  to  their  superiority 
in  depth  and  power  to  the  shallow  streams  which  to- 
day wind  through  our  valleys,  were  far  more  correct  in 
their  habits  and  firm  in  their  principles  than  the  mo- 
dern waters — not  being  so  easily  persuaded  to  indulge 
in  irregularities,  and  not  taking  advantage  of  every 
winter-thaw,  to  rise  up,  and  go  off  on  a  "  bender,"  as 
it  were,  with  the  creeks  and  runnels,  like  a  crew  of 
light-headed  youngsters.  And  yet  it  is  not  to  be  sup- 
posed that  they  refrained  entirely  from  such  extrava- 
gances. Early  settlers  well  remember  how  the  lower 
valley  of  the  Tioga  was  flooded  from  hill  to  hill  fully  a 
mile,  deep  enough,  almost,  at  the  shallowist,  to  swim 
a  horse;  and  how  men,  near  Painted  Post,  paddled  their 
canoes  in  the  roads  for  miles  .,^This  was  about  forty- 
five  years  ago. 

The  rivers  were  furthermore  grievously  afOyicted 
with  flood- wood.  They  bore  down  with  their  strong, 
est  waters  annual  tribute  to  the  Susquehanna,  of 
trees,  broken  trunks,  and  enormous  roots— the  bullion 
of  the  forest — like  savage  chiefs  of  the  mountain,  bear- 
ing gifts  to  the  prince  of  the  plains,  of  rough  ores,  un- 
5    '  .     „. 


,88 

wrought  gems,  and  the  feathers  of  strange  birds.  In 
modern  days  we  continue  this  tribute,  but  in  a  differ- 
ent form,  as  evidence  of  our  improved  state — coining  the 
uncooth  bullion  into  boards  or  huge  ingots  of  timber. 
Notwithstanding  the  great  quantities  of  flood-wood 
from  which  the  rivers  freed  themselves  by  the  occasion- 
al floods,  there  were  yet  large  masses  of  this  raft  which 
the  freshet  did  not  loosen,  or  at  most,  shifted  from 
point  to  point.  The  two  lesser  rivars  were  fairly 
strangled  by  these  dams.  Navigation,  for  any  craft 
heavier  that  the  birch  canoe  of  the  pagan,  was  utterly 
impracticable.  After  the  settlement  of  the  county, 
these  collections  of  flood- wood  were  chopped  and  burn- 
ed away  at  a  considerable  public  expense.  Something 
has  been  done,  too,  toward  straightening  the  navigable 
streams.  Upon  the  whole,  it  would  appear  that  our 
county  contained  in  old  times,  a  very  heedless  and  law- 
less family  of  waters.  The  rivers  were  badly  snarled. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  pleasing  results  of  a  judicious  civ- 
ilization that  these  tangled  torrents  have  been  combed 
out  smoothly,  and  that  the  mountain  creeks,  which  then 
like  wild  colts  came  leaping  through  the  ravines,  have 
at  last  been  caught  in  huge  timber  traps  so  ingeniously 
contrived  with  bulkheads  and  flooms,  that  there  was 
really  no  chance  of  escape  for  these  lively  streams, 
and  have  been  given  to  understand  that  all  this  caper- 
ing through  the  glens,  and  leaping  over  the  rocks, 
might  be  excused  when  the  poor  Indian  who  knew  no- 
thing about  hydraulics  held  the  land,  but  that  they 
must  now  come  into  the  harness  and  carry  saw-logs 
and  turn  under-shot  wheels. 


r. 


89 

Considering  all  these  things — the  forests,  the  hills, 
the  shaded  islands,  the  ivild  beasts,  and  the  untamed 
rivers— our  county  appears  to  have  been  trulv  a  fast- 
ness of  barbarism.  Its  ancient  tenants  did  not  yield 
it  without  a  long  battle,  fought  inch  by  inch  with  fire 
and  steel.  Mountains  and  rivers  formed  a  league. 
The  mountains  displayed  the  fortitude  of  martyrs. 
When  beset  by  merciless  farmers,  they  resolutely  re- 
fused to  give  up  their  treasures.  Dumb  and  obstinate 
they  were  stripped  of  their  raiment,  they  were  flayed, 
they  were  torn  with  plows  and  harrows,  they  were 
scorched  with  fire — like  Jews  in  the  castles  of  the  old 
barons — and  only  surrendered  their  hidden  wealth  af- 
ter the  most  dreadful  tortures.  The  rivers,  with  equal 
fidelity,  resisted  the  inroads  of  the  back-woodsmen. 
The  "Citizen"  sayn;  "  If  the  rivers  of  this  county 
were  anciently  popttUted  with  any  tribe  of  Indian  bo- 
gles, or  water-imps,  (and  there  is  uo  good  reason  for 
supposing  that  they  were  not,)  I  should  say  that  these 
invisible  citizenis  ndttstered  for  a  last  staild,  in  de- 
fence of  their  homes.  They  built  barricades  of  flood- 
wood,  they  piled  up  battlements  of  great  roots,  they 
pulled  down  mighty  sycamores  to  fortify  the  rifts.  But 
they  were  overpowered  like  the  insurgents  of  Paris. 
Their  barricades  were  broken  with  axes  or  destroyed 
by  fire,  und  the  fleets  of  the  pioneers  pushed  their  way 
up  the  rivers  by  degrees,  driving  before  them  these  un- 
lucky little  aborigines." 

There  were  many  patches  of  land  on  the  river  flats, 
which  were  free  from  timber.  At  the  north  of  the 
Canisteo  there  was  an  *^  open  flat"  of  some  two  hun- 


40 

dred  acres.  In  the  upper  valley  of  that  river  there 
was  a  much  larger  one.  There  were  open  flats  near 
the  Painted  Post  and  up  the  Tioga,  and  a  single  one 
on  the  Conhocton — the  fine  meadows  south  of  the  vil- 
vage  of  Bath. 

There  was  at  this  time  a  man  living  near  Northum- 
berland, in  Pennsylvania,  who  afterwards  became  a 
noted  citizen  of  this  county ;  and  although  his  con- 
nection with  it  did  not  begin  till  after  the  first  settle- 
ments were  made,  yet,  for  convenience,  a  brief  sketch 
of  him  may  be  introduced.  ^,    !   .... 


BENJAMIN  PATTERSON,  THE  HUNTER. 

Of  great  renown,  towards  the  close  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, throughout  all  the  hill-country  of  the  West,  was 
Ben  Patterson,  the  hunter.  From  the  mid-branchea 
of  the  Susquehanna  to  the  most  north-western  waters  of 
that  river,  there  was  not  one  of  greater  fame.  Cou- 
rageous and  energetic  of  spirit,  and  powerful  of  frame, 
he  explored  the  forests  of  Pennsylvania  roved  over 
the  ridges  and  through  the  ravines  of  the  AUeganies, 
navigated  untried  rivers,  discovered  mines  and  hidden 
valleys,  gave  names  to  creeks  and  mountains,  and 
guided  adventures  through  the  wilderness. 

Sometimes  he  was  a  hunter ;  sometimes  an  Indian 
fighter ;  sometimes  a  spy ;  sometimes  a  Moses  to  des- 
pairing emigrants  ;  sometimes  forrester  to  backwoods 
barons.  He  had  been  associated  with  all  the  noted 
characters  of  the  frontier  :  with  Gurty,  the  renegade ; 
with  Murphy,  the  runner;  with  Van  Campon,  the 


41 

ranger;  with  Hammond,  the  fighter.  He  knew  the 
farmers  of  Wyoming,  the  riflemen  of  the  West  Branch, 
and  the  warriors  of  Niagara.  To  hears,  panthers, 
and  wolves,  to  elk,  deer,  and  heaver,  he  was  an  Alaric. 
The  numher  of  thase  beasts  that  fell  before  his  rifle 
almost  passes  account.  In  the  latter  years  of  his  life, 
when  an  old  man,  living  on  his  farm  by  the  Tioga,  and 
game  began  to  become  scarce,  he  thought  it  necessary 
to  put  a  narrow  limit  to  his  annual  destruction  of  deer, 
and  in  each  year  thereafter  laid  up  his  rifle  when  he 
had  killed  an  hundred.  He  was  not  a  mere  destroyer 
of  wild  beasts,  but  a  man  of  keen  observation,  of  re- 
markable pow')rs  of  memory,  of  intelligence,  of  judg- 
ment, and  withal  of  strict  integrity.  He  possessed 
great  powers  of  narration.  Not  only  children  and 
rough  men  of  the  frontier,  but  men  of  learning,  listen- 
ed hour  after  hour  to  his  thousand  tales.  The  late 
Chief  Justice  Spencer,  when  Circuit  Judge,  once  met 
him  at  the  Mud  Creek  tavern,  in  this  county,  and  was 
so  interested  with  his  graphic  descriptions  of  wild 
scenery  and  wood  life,  that  he  sat  up  all  night  with 
him  engaged  in  conversation ;  and  always  after,  when 
holding  court  at  Bath,  sent  for  the  hunter,  provided 
for  him  at  the  hotel,  and  passed  in  his  company  a 
great  part  of  his  time  off  the  bench. 

Mr.  Patterson  was  bom  in  London  county,  in  the 
State  of  Virginia,  in  the  year  1759,  and  died  in  1880, 
at  Painted  Post,  having  been  for  the  last  thirty-five 
years  of  his  life  a  citizen  of  this  county.  His  mother 
was  a  cousin  of  Daniel  Boone,  the  first  of  the  Ken- 
tuckians.    Early  in  life  he  removed  with  the  family  of 


42 


his  step-father  to  Pennsylvania,  and  passed  the  greater 
part  of  his  youth  in  that  State,  though  living  for  a 
time  again  in  Virginia.  It  was  on  the  Suaqehanna 
frontiers  that  his  hunting  tastes  were  formed  and  4^- 
veloped. 

During  the  Revolutionary  war  he  served  in  a  rifle - 
corps,  organized  for  the  defence  of  the  borders,  and  in 
this  perilous  service  met  with  many  adventures.  At 
the  skirmish  of  Freeling's  Fort,  in  1779,  he  and  his 
younger  brother  Robert  (who  afterwards  was  also  a 
citizen  of  this  county)  fought  in  the  party  of  Captain 
Hawkins  Boone,  and  narrowly  escaped  with  their  lives. 
Freeling's  Fort,  on  the  West  Branch  of  the  Susque- 
hanna, had  been  taken  by  a  party  of  Tories  and  In- 
dians, the  former  under  the  command  of  McDonald,  a 
noted  loyalist  of  Tryon  county,  in  New  York,  and  the 
latter  led  by  Hiakatoo  (the  husband  of  Mary  Jemison 
"  the  white  woman.")  Captain  Boone's  party  of 
thirty-two  volunteered  to  scout  in  tho  neighbor- 
hood of  the  captured  fort,  and  to  attack  the  ene- 
my if  it  could  be  advantageously  done.  They 
advanced  cautiously,  and  succeeded  in  concealing 
themselves  in  a  cluster  of  bushes  overlooking  the 
camp  of  the  enemy.  Both  tories  and  Indians 
were  engaged  in  cooking  or  eating,  while  a  single 
sentinel,  a  fine  tall  savage,  with  a  blanket  drawn  over 
his  head,  walked  slowly  to  and  fro.  Boone's  men  com- 
menced firing  by  platoons  of  six.  The  sentry  sprang 
into  the  air  with  a  whoop  and  fell  dead.  The  enemy 
yelling  frightfully  ran  to  arms  and  opened  a  furious 
bat  random  fire  at  their  unseen  foes.    Their  bullets 


-«* 


rattled  through  the  bushes  where  Booue's  men  lay  hid, 
but  did  no  mischief.  The  slaughter  of  Indians  and 
Tories  was  dreadful.  The  thirty-two  rangers  firing 
coolly  and  rapidly  by  sixes,  with  the  unerring  aim  of 
frontiersmen,  shot  down  one  hundred  and  fifty  (so  the 
story  runs)  before  the  enemy  broke  and  fled.  Boone's 
men,  with  strange  indiscretion,  rushed  from  their 
covert  in  pursuit,  and  immediately  exposed  their 
weakness  of  numbers.  Hiakatoo  with  his  Indians 
made  a  circuit,  and  attacked  them  in  the  rear,  while 
McDonald  turned  upon  their  front.  They  were  sur- 
rounded. "  Save  yourselves  men  as  you  can,"  cried 
Captain  Boone.  The  enemy  clo''.ed  with  tomahawks  and 
spears.  This  part  of  the  fight  occurred  in  the  midst 
of  the  woods.  The  rangers  broke  through  their  foes, 
and  fled  with  such  success  that  many  escaped,  but 
their  captain  and  more  than  half  of  his  men  were 
killed.  Robert  Patterson,  who  was  very  swift  of  foot, 
was  followed  several  miles  to  the  clearings  of  another 
fort  by  three  or  four  fleet  Indians*  Seeing  that  he 
would  escape  from  them,  his  pursuers  reserved  their 
fire  till  he  should  clamber  over  the  fence  which  enclosed 
the  clearing,  when  they  might  aim  at  him  with  greater 
certainty  than  while  he  was  running  through  the 
woods.  He  however  sprang  to  the  top  rail  at  a  bound 
and  escaped.  The  bullets  struck  the  wood  just  under 
his  feet.  Benjamin  Patterson,  in  the  meantime,  had 
hidden  himself  under  a  log  overgrown  with  vines  or 
briars.  The  Indians  ransacked  the  woods  all  around, 
and  passed  so  near  his  hiding  place  that  he  could  touch 
their  moccasins  with  his  ramrod.     Many  times  he 


# 


n 

thought  himself  discoyered,  and  was  on  the  point  of 
springing  forth  to  die  fighting,  hut  the  Indians  gradu- 
ally wandered  away  from  his  vicinity.  The  last  strag- 
gler returning  from  the  pursuit  carried  the  dripping 
scalp  of  the  only  red-haired  man  in  the  party,  which  he 
was  twirling  around  his  finger  with  great  delight. 
/'  I  was  strongly  tempted  to  shoot  that  fellow,"  said 
Patterson,  hut  on  reflecting  that  the  main  hody  of  the 
Indians  was  not  distant,  he  thought  it  prudent  to  deny 
himself  that  pleasure.  At  night  he  escaped  to  Boone's 
Fort. 

The  enemy  re-took  the  prisoners  of  Freeling's  Fort, 
and  carried  away  many  captives  to  Niagara.  Patter- 
son, in  a  company  of  rangers,  pursued.  They  helieved 
that  the  Indians  had  a  great  many  wounded  with  them, 
for  at  the  deserted  encampments  hushels  of  slippery- 
elm  hark  were  found,  which  had  heen  pounded  in  pre- 
paring draughts  and  dressings.*  The  enemy  struck 
over  from  Pine  Creek  to  the  Tioga,  and  passed  up  the 
valley  of  the  Conhooton  to  Niagara. 

Patterson  was  engaged  throughout  the  war  in  the 
perilous  frontier- services ;  sometimes  scouting  with  the 
wary  and  fearless  captains  of  the  herders ;  sometimes 
skirmishing  in  the  forests  ;  sometimes  devising  plots 


*  Captain  Montour,  the  chief  who  was  buried  at  the  Painted  Post, 
was  in  McDonald's  band,  and  died  from  wounds  received  at  Free- 
ling^B  or  Freeland's  Fori  He  was  said  to  be  a  son  of  Queen  Oathe* 
rine  of  Seneca  Lake.  There  is  no  detailed  account  of  this  skirmish 
in  any  accessible  book  with  which  to  compare  Patterson's  story.  It 
is  briefly  alluded  to  in  the  bio^aphies  of  Brant  and  Van  Campen, 
the  only  authorities  at  hand. 


45 

and  counter  plots  against  the  secret  and  wise  fees  who 
hid  in  the  dark  places  of  the  wilderness,  and  came  and 
went  like  the  lightning.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he 
was  at  liberty  to  give  himself  up  to  his  roying  and 
hunting  propensities.  He  explored  the  region  north 
of  the  West  Branch,  passed  up  through  the  Genesee 
country,  spied  out  the  land,  and  guided  emigrants, 
travellers  and  adventurers  through  the  woods  ;  shoot- 
ing always  wherever  he  went.  He  was  the  guide  of 
Talleyrand  in  an  excursion  through  the  wild  country, 
and  at  a  later  period  piloted  another  French  gentleman 
for  many  weeks  around  the  wilderness.  The  latter 
was  agent  for  a  company  of  French  emigrants,  then 
residing  at  Philadelphia,  who  desired  to  make  a  settle- 
ment in  some  choice  place  on  the  outside  of  civilisation. 
The  Frenchman  was  a  merry  companion,  and  took  to 
wild  life  with  a  good  grace.  With  a  negro  servant  he 
followed  the  hunter  over  a  great  extent  of  country, 
learning  to  swim  and  shoot,  bathing  in  the  lakes,  sleep- 
ing on  the  ground,  and  learnbg  backwoods  science 
with  much  zeal.  The  emigrants,  it  is  said,  were  sadly 
taken  in  by  the  land  speculators  who  sold  them  at  a 
great  price,  an  armful  of  mountains  not  worth  eighteen 
pence. 

t^  The  hunter's  home  was  for  many  years  on  the  West 
Branch,  near  Northumberland.  After  the  war,  the 
region  thereabout  began  to  be  overrun  to  a  destructive 
rate  with  farmers,  who  laid  waste  the  homes  of  the 
bear  and  the  wolf  with  the  most  sickening  barbarity. 
The  forests  were  again  and  again  de«»anated,  till  his 
old  hunting  grounds,  disfigured  with  wheat  fields,  corn 


^ii^^  ■.^.■^ 


,  ^;4^-,;*,-^i^! 


46 

fields  and  potato  fields,  presented  a  melancholy  scene 
of  deyastation.  The  m\d  beasts  quite  lost  heart,  and 
began  to  retire  to  deeper  solitudes,  and  the  hunter  de- 
termined to  remoye  his  household  elsewhere,  into  a 
land  as  yet  unmolested  by  plowmen  and  wood-choppers. 
In  the  year  1796,  he  boated  his  goods  up  the  river  to 
Painted  Post,  and  kept  for  seven  years  the  old  tavern 
at  Knoxville.  At  the  end  of  that  time,  he  moved  up 
on  the  farm  now  occupied  by  one  of  his  sons,  two  miles 
above  the  village  of  Painted  Post,  on  the  Tioga.  It 
was  quite  a  productive  farm,  yielding  a  crop  of  twenty- 
two  wolves,  nine  panthers,  bears  a  few,  besides  deer, 
shad  and  salmon  uncounted. 

He  was  of  medium  stature,  and  squarely  built. 
When  in  his  prime,  he  possessed  great  strength  and 
activity,  and  was  famed  as  "  a  very  smart  man.'' 
He  never  encountered  a  man  who  got  the  better  of  him 
in  a  scuffle.  His  acquaintance  with  the  famous  inter- 
preter, Horatio  Jones,*  commenced  in  true  frontier 
chivalry.  A  party  of  Indians,  with  a  few  white  men, 
had  gathered  around  a  camp-fire  near  the  Genesee, 
when  for  some  reason,  the  savages  began  to  insult  and 
abuse  an  individual  who  was  standing  by.  At  length 
ihey  threw  him  into  the  fire.  The  man  scrambled  out. 
The  Indians  again  seized  him  and  threw  him  into  the 
fire.  Patterson,  who  stood  near,  a  perfect  stranger  to 
the  company,  sprang  forward,  saying  to  the  tormlsntors 
'*  Don't  burn  the  man  alive !"  and  dragged  him  off  the 

*  A  PtDDaylvaoian.  Takan  pruoner  by  the  Indiuu  wkto  eigh- 
teen yeArs  of  age ;  he  became,  for  his  courage,  strength  and  spirit, 
ft  favorite  with  his  captors,  and  gained  great  nfl  j<^nce  over  them. 


47 

burning  logs.  Two  or  three  of  this  genial  party, 
displeased  at  the  interruption  of  their  diversions,  im- 
mediately assaulted  the  hunter,  but  relinquished  the 
honor  of  whipping  him  to  Jones,  who  stepped  forward 
to  settle  the  affair  in  person.  Jones  was  also  famed 
as  a  ''  smart  man,"  being  powerful,  well  skilled  in 
athletic  sports,  and  able  to  maintain  bis  authority  over 
the  Indians  by  strength  of  arm.  Before  the  fight  had 
lasted  many  minutes,  the  sayages  standing  around  be- 
gan to  whisper  in  their  own  language,  *^  He  has  got 
his  match  this  time,"  with  perhaps  some  little  satis- 
faction, for  the  Interpreter  used  a  rod  of  iron,  and 
sometimes  banged  his  people  about  without  ceremony. 
Jones  was  badly  beaten,  and  kept  his  wigwam  for 
several  days<  At  the  trial  of  the  Indians,  Sundown 
and  Curly-eye,  at  Bath,  in  1825,  (or  about  that  time,) 
Jones,  who  was  present  as  interpreter,  laughed  heartily 
over  the  matter,  and  sent  his  compliments  to  the  old 
hunter. 

Ho  was  of  course  a  crack  shot,  and  carried  a  rifle 
which  killed  where  vulgar  guns  smoked  in  vain.  In 
one  of  his  Excursions  with  Capt.  Williamson,  he  found 
a  wild  ox  roving  over  the  vast  Genesee  Flats,  which, 
by  his  sagacity  and  swiftness,  baffled  all  the  efforts  of 
the  Indians  to  destroy  him.  This  beast  was  the  lasi 
of  several  domestic  oxen,  which  at  times  strayed  to 
these  marvellous  meadows,  and  became  wild  as  buffa- 
loes. They  l^ved  like  the  cattle  of  Eden  in  the  luxu- 
rious pasture  of  the  flats  during  the  summer,  and  in 
the  winter  by  thrusting  their  noses  through  the  ^now, 
ate  the  frozen  grass  below,  and  sustained  Ufe  quite 


>" 


m 


comfortably.  All  had  been  slain  but  the  one  which 
was  now  grazing  in  that  great  field,  and  his  faculties 
had  been  so  sharpened  by  the  relapse  to  barbarism, 
that  it  was  quite  impossible  for  even  the  craft  of  the 
Indians  to  circumvent  him.  His  scent  was  almost  as 
keen  as  the  elk's ;  his  eyesight  was  so  quick  and  sus- 
picious, that  before  the  red  men  could  skulk  within 
gunshot  of  him,  he  shook  his  great  white  horns  and 
raced  off  through  the  high  grass  like  an  antelope. 
Capt.  Williamson  charged  Patterson  to  lay  low  the 
head  of  this  famous  beast.  The  hunter  crept  along 
carefully  while  the  ox  was  grazing,  and  when  it  raised 
its  head  and  stared  around  the  plain  to  discern  an  ene- 
my, lay  fiat  in  the  grass.  Either  his  patience  or  his 
skill  was  greater  than  that  of  the  Indians,  for  he  com- 
pletely out-generalled  the  wary  animal,  got  within  fair 
shooting  range  of  it,  fired  and  brought  it  down.  The 
savages  set  up  a  great  whooping,  and  crowded  around 
the  fallen  ox  as  though  it  were  a  horned  horse,  or  a 
sea-elephant.  One  of  his  noble  horns,  suitably  carved 
and  ornamented,  afterwards  hung  at  the  hijnter's  side 
as  a  powder-horn. 

He  preserved  in  his  old  age  all  the  characteristics  of 
the  hunter,  and  always  found  his  chief  pleasures  in 
the  vigorous  pursuits  to  which  his  youth  had  been  de- 
voted. When  attending  court  at  Bath,  as  a  juryman, 
he  was  in  the  habit  of  going  out  in  the  morning,  before 
any  body  was  stirring,  to  the  little  lake,  cast  of  the 
village,  and  shooting  a  de«r  before  breakfast.  It  is  to 
be  regretted  that  the  reminiscences  we  have  collected 
of  this  far-known  character,  and  recorded  in  this  and 


11 

^ 

ti 
d 
fi 
a 

t( 
c 

0 

b 
h 


/it* 


)  wbich 
Btculties 
barism, 
b  of  the 
most  as 
bnd  BUS- 
I  within 
rns  and 
ntelope. 
low  the 
>t  along 
it  raised 
i  an  ene- 
se  or  his 
he  com- 
thin  fair 
n.     The 
d  around 
irse,  or  a 
y  carved 
;er'8  side 


in  succeeding  chapters  of  this  yolume,  are  so  scanty. 
More  of  the  thousand  tales,  which  he  told  of  the  ''old 
times  "  to  boys  and  neighbors  and  travellers,  might 
doubtless  be  gathered  even  yet ;  but  had  they  been  taken 
•  from  his  own  lips  in  his  lifetime,  they  would  have  formed 
a  volume  of  reminiscence  and  adventure  of  rare  in- 
terest. There  would  have  been,  besides,  a  gain  in  ac- 
curacy ;  for  what  we  have  collected  were  told  twenty 
or  thirty  years  ago  to  youngsters.  Whatever  was  told 
by  the  old  hunter  himself  was  to  be  relied  upon,  for 
he  was  carefully  and  strictly  truthful. 


6 


iristics  of 
ksures  in 
been  de- 
juryman, 
ig,  before 
st  of  the 
It  is  to 
collected 
L  this  and 


'i 


■MtL  a^.i-i  ':vj>*;.iii 


,;:*;.:i;cu;  i±;cuiqti:jt:j 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  SETTLEMENTS  MADE  UNDER  THE  PURCHASE  BY 
PHELPS  AND  OORHAM — PAINTED  POST — THE  FIRST 
SETTLER — THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  UPPER  VALLEY 

OF      THE      CANISTEO THE    CANISTEO     FLATS — LIFE 

IN  THE    VALLEY — A    WRESTLING    MATCH — CAPTAIN 
JOHN— OLD    ENEMIES — MAJOR     VAN      CAMPEN     AND 

MOHAWK — A  DISCOMFITED    SAVAGE CAPTURE  OP  A 

SAW-MILL — THE     LOWER     CANISTEO    VALLEY COL. 

LINDLY — A   DEER-SLAYER   IMMORTALIZED. 


THE    OLD    TOWN   OF  PAINTED   POST. 

In  the  summer  of  1779,  a  numerous  party  of  Tories 
and  Indians,  under  the  command  of  a  Loyalist  named 
McDonald  and  Hiakatoo,  a  renowned  Seneca  war-chief, 
returned  to  the  north  by  way  of  Pine  creek,  the  Tioga, 
and  the  Conhocton,  from  an  incursion  among  the  set- 
tlements on  the  west  branch  of  the  Susquehanna.  They 
had  suffered  a  severe  loss  in  a  conflict  with  the  border- 
ers, and  brought  with  them  many  wounded.  Their 
march  was  also  encumbered  by  many  prisoners,  men, 
women  and  children,  taken  at  Freeling's  Fort.  A 
party  of  rangers  followtd  thfitt  i  few  days,  journeying 
into  the  wilderness^  luiijiia^il  their  abandoned  en- 
campment abundantprodl^te  OMinfulness  with  which 


'  $1 

the  knives  and  rifles  of  the  frontier  had  been  used  in 
repelling  its  foes,  in  the  heaps  of  bark  and  roots  which 
had  been  pounded  or  steeped  in  preparing  draughts 
and  dressings  for  the  wounded  warriors.  Under  the 
elms  of  the  confluence  of  the  Tioga  and  Conhocton, 
Captain  Montour,  a  half-breed,  a  fine  young  chief,  a 
gallant  warrior  and  a  favorite  with  his  tribe,  died  of 
his  wounds.  He  was  a  son  of  the  famous  Queen  Cath- 
arine. His  comrades  buried  him  bj  the  river  side, 
and  planted  above  his  grave  a  post  on  which  was  painted 
various  symbols  and  rude  devices.  This  monument 
was  known  throughout  the  Genesee  Forest  as  the  Paint- 
ed Pest.  It  was  a  landmark  well  known  to  all  the 
Six  Nations,  and  was  often  visited  by  their  braves  and 
chieftains.* 


*  This  account  of  the  origin  of  the  Punted  Poet  was  given  to  Ben- 
jamin Patterson,  the  Hunter,  by  a  nuui  named  Taggart,  who  was 
carried  to  Fort  Niagara  a  prisoner  by  McDonald's  party,  and  was  a 
witness  of  the  burial  of  Captain  Montour,  or  at  least  was  in  the  en- 
campment at  the  mouth  of  the  Tioga  at  the  time  of  his  death.  OoL 
Harper,  of  Harpersfleld,  the  weU  known  officer  of  the  frontier  militia 
of  New  YmtIc  in  the  ReroLutioD,  informed  Judge  Knox,  of  Enozville 
in  this  county,  that  the  Painted  Post  was  erected  over  the  grave  of  a 
chief  who  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of  the  Hog-back,  and  brought 
in  a  canoe  to  the  head  of  the  Ohemung,  where  he  died.  At  all  events 
it  was  well  understood  by  the  early  settlers,  that  this  monument 
was  erected  in  memory  of  some  distinguished  warrior  who  had  beoi 
wounded  in  one  of  the  border  battles  of  the  Revolution,  and  after- 
wards died  at  this  place.  The  post  stood  for  many  years  after  the 
settlement  of  the  county,  «nd  the  story  goes  that  it  rotted  down  at 
tha  butt,  and  was  preserved  in  ilw  HftMroom  of  a  tavern  till  about 
the  year  1810,  and  then  4li»]^pMpitf  qniBeountably.  It  is  also  said 
^to  have  been  swept  nwi^  |ti  a  frMlwi 


62 

At  the  Painted  Post,  the  first  habitation  of  civilized 
man  erected  in  Steuben  county,  was  built  by  William 
Harris,  an  Indian  Trader.    Harris  was  a  Pennsylva- 
nian,  and  not  long  after  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary 
war  pushed  up  the  Chemung  with  a  cargo  of  Indian 
goods,  to  open  a  traffic  with  the  hunting  parties  of  the 
Six  Nations,  which  resorted  at  certain  seasons  to  the 
northwestern  branches  of  the  Susquehanna.  A  canoe  or 
a  pack-horse  sufficed  at  that  time  to  transport  the 
yearly  merchandise  of  the  citizens  of  our  county.  Sixty- 
five  years  afterwards,  an  armada  of  canal  boats  and  a 
caravan  of  cars  hardly  performed  this  labor.     The 
precise  date  of  Harris's  arrival  is  unknown.    Judge 
Baker,  late  of  Pleasant  Valley,  found  the  trader  estab- 
lished at  his  post  in  the  spring  of  1787.     On  Christ- 
mas night  following,  he  went  down  to  the  Painted  Posts 
and  finding  the  cabin  burned  and  the  trader  missing, 
he  inferred  that  the  latter  had  perhaps  been  killed  by 
his  customers — a  disaster  by  no  means  unlikely  to  be- 
fall a  merchant  in  a  region  where  the  position  of  debtor 
was  much  more  pleasant  and  independent  than  that  of 
creditor,  especially  if  the  creditor  had  the  misfortune 
to  be  white  and  civilized.    Harris,  however,  had  met 
with  no  calamity.    On  the  contrary,  his  intercourse 
with  the  Indians  was  of  a  very  friendly  and  confiden- 
tial character.    They  rendered  him  much  valuable 
assistance  in  setting  up  business,  not  of  course  by  en- 
dorsing his  paper,  or  advancing  funds  on  personal  se- 
curity; but  by  helping  him  to  erect  his  warehouse,  and 
patronising  him  in  the  haiidloiiteat  manner  afterwards. 
They  even  carried  the  logs  ont  of  irhioh  the  cabin  waa 


58 

built,  on  their  shoulders,  to  the  proposed  site  of  the 
edifice,  which  was  after  all,  to  speak  with  strict  ety- 
mology, a  species  of  endorsement. 

The  savages  manifested  much  zeal  in  promoting  the 
establishment  of  a  trading  post  at  the  head  of  the  Che- 
mung, and  indeed  it  was  a  matter  of  as  much  conse- 
quence at  that  time  as  the  building  of  a  Railroad  De- 
pot is  in  modern  days.  Before  that,  the  citizens  of 
the  county  were  obliged  to  go  to  Tioga  Point,  nearly 
fifty  miles  below,  to  buy  their  gunpowder,  liquors, 
knives,  bells,  brads,  and  jews-harps ;  and  the  pro- 
posal of  Harris  to  erect  a  bazaar  at  the  Painted  Post, 
for  the  sale  of  those  articles,  was  as  vital  concern  to 
the  interests  of  the  county  as  at  the  present  day  an 
offer  of  the  government  to  establish  a  university  in 
Tyrone  or  an  observatory  in  Troupsburg  would  be.  It 
was  a  great  day  for  the  county  when  the  trader's 
cabin  was  finished,  and  his  wares  unpacked.  Then 
the  sachem  might  buy  scalping  knives  and  hatchets  on 
the  bank  of  his  own  river ;  the  ladies  of  the  wilderness 
could  go  shopping  without  paddling  their  canoes  to 
the  Susquehanna,  and  the  terrible  warriors  of  the  Six 
Nations,  as  they  sat  of  an  evening  under  their  own  elm 
trees,  smokmg  pipes  bought  at  the  "  People's  Store," 
hard  by,  forgot  their  cunning ;  when  some  renowned 
Captain  Shiversoull,  a  grim  and  truculent  giant,  steeped 
to  bis  elbows  in  the  blood  o^  farmers,  and  scarred  with 
bullets  and  tomahawks  like  a  target,  sat  upon  a  log, 
soothing  his  savage  breast  with  the  melodies  of  a  jews- 
harp,  or  winding  around  that  bloody  finger,  which  had 

so  often  been  twisted  in  the  flaxen  scalp-looks  of  Penn- 
6* 


64 

sjlvanian  children,  a  string  of  beads,  bought  for  his 
own  ugly  little  cub,  that  lay  asleep  in  the  wigwam  of 
Genesee. 

At  the  time  of  Judge  Baker's  visit,  Harris  was  only 
temporarily  absent.   He  afterwards  returned  to  Painted 
Post  with  his  son,  and  lived  there  a  few  years,  when 
he  again  removed  to  Pennsylvania.    One  or  two  others 
are  sometimes  pointed  out  as  the  first  settlers  of  the 
county ;  but  evidence,  which  must  be  regarded  as  re- 
liable and  decisive,  proves  that  the  first  civilized  resi- 
dent was  William  Harris.    It  is  possible,  indeed,  that 
befcMre  his  advent  some  straggling  adventurer  may  have 
wandered  hither,  built  him  a  lodge,  perhaps  planted 
corn  on  the  open  flats,  and  afterwards  strayed  to  parts 
unknown,  leaving  no  trace  of  his  existence.     There 
have  always  been,  on  the  frontiers,  eccentric  geniuses, 
to  whom  such  a  line  of  conduct  was  no  strange  thing. 
Inhere  have  always  been,  on  the  frontiers,  a  few  vaga- 
bonds, who  should  have  been  born  wolves,  who  forsake 
civilized  homes  and  join  the  Indians,  and  are  only  hin- 
dered from  living  with  the  bears  in  their  hollow  trees, 
by  the  refusal  of  these  sensible  monsters  to  fraternize 
with  such  loafers.     Hermits,  huntera  and  vagabonds 
find  their  way  into  strange  places,  and  it  is  by  no 
means  impossible  that  some  pleasant  island  or  open 
flat  may  have  harbored  one  of  these  outlaws  before 
any  other  wanderer,  laying  claim  to  civilization,  smote 
our  forests  with  the  all-conquering  axe.    No  such  Ro- 
binson Crusoe,  however,  presents  himself  as  a  candi- 
date for  historical  honors,  and  it  is,  upon  the  whole,  im- 
probable that  any  such  preeeded  the  trader,  or  if  he 


66 

did,  that  he  enjoyed  his  solitude  a  great  while  unmo- 
lested. The  "  Man  Friday  "  he  would  have  been  like- 
ly to  catch  here  would  most  prohably  have  caught  Atm, 
and  whisked  his  scalp  oflf  without  winking. 

Harris  was  a  trader,  and  did  not  cultivate  the  soil'. 
Frederick  Calkins,  a  Vermonter,  was  the  first  farmer 
of  Steuben.  He  made  his  settlement  near  the  head  of 
the  Chimney  Narrows,  in  1788.  After  living  there 
alone  for  a  time,  he  returned  to  the  east  for  his  family. 
During  this  absence,  Phelps  and  Gorham's  surveyors 
made  head-quarters  at  Painted  Post,  which  accounts 
for  the  omission  of  his  name  in  Judge  Porter's  narra- 
tive, quoted  in  the  last  chapter.  George  Goodhue  fol- 
lowed Mr.  Calkins  in  a  year  or  two. 

Township  number  two  in  the  second  range,  was  pur- 
chased of  Phelps  and  Gorham,  in  1790,  by  six  pro- 
prietors, Frederick  Calkins,  Justus  Wolcott,  of  East- 
em  New  York,  Ephraim  Patterson,  of  Connecticut, 
Silas  Wood,  Caleb  Gardener  and  Peleg  Gorton.  The 
price  paid  for  the  township  was  eight  cents  per  acre. 

The  old  town  of  Painted  Post  comprised  the  present 
towns  of  Hornby,  Campbell,  Erwin,  Painted  Post,  Ca- 
ton  and  Lindley.  The  earliest  settlers  along  the  Che- 
mung and  Conhocton  were  the  six  proprietors  (except- 
ing Silas  Wood),  Eli  and  Eldad  Mead,  (1790,)  David 
and  Jonathan  Cook,  of  New  Jersey,  (1790,)  Judge 
Knox,  of  Eastern  New  York,  (1793,)  Benjamin  Eaton, 
Elias  Williams,  Henry  McCormick,  Hezekiah  Thur- 
ber,  Bradford  Eggleston,  Samuel  Colegrove,  John  Ber- 
ry and  others.    John  Winters,  a  famous  hunter,  set- 


66 

tied  there  at  an  early  day,  and  families  named  Rowan, 
Waters,  Van  Wye,  Turner,  McCullick,  &c. 

Mr.  £11  Mead  was  the  first  Supervisor  of  the  town, 
and  went  on  foot  to  Canandaigua,  to  attend  the  meet- 
ing of  the  Board  of  Supervisors  of  Ontario  county. 

Gen.  McClure,  speaking  of  the  early  settlers  of  that 
neighborhood,  mentions  *'  a  man  by  the  name  of  Ful- 
ler, who  kept  the  old  Painted  Post  Hotel.     That  an- 
cient house  of  entertainment,  or  tavern  (as  such  were 
then  called)  was  composed  of  round  logs,  one  story 
high,  and  if  I  mistake  not  was  divided  into  two  apart- 
ments.    This  house  ~^as  well  patronized  by  its  neigh- 
bors as  by  travellers  from  afar.     All  necessarily  stop- 
ped here  for  refreshment,  as  well  for  themselves  as  for 
their  horses.  Fuller,  the  landlord,  was  a  good  natured, 
slow  and  easy  kind  of  a  man,  but  his  better  half,  Nel- 
ly, was  a  thorough-going,  smart,  good-looking  woman, 
and  was  much  admired  by  gentlemen  generally.     To 
the  wearied  traveller,  nothing  can  be  more  agreeable 
than  a  pleasant,  obliging  landlady.     There  were  other 
respectable  families  settled  at  Painted  Post,  not  many 
years  after,  (17d4,)  Thomas  McBurney,  Esq.,  Capt. 
Samuel  Erwin,  Frank  and  Arthur,  his  brothers,  Capt. 
Howell  Bull,  John  E.  Evans,  an  Englishman,  and 
others." 

A  mill  was  built  on  the  Post  Creek,  near  the  Nar- 
rows, by  Mr.  Payne  and  Col.  Henderson,  as  early  as 
1798  or  1794.  This  mill  is  described  by  the  few  who 
remember  it,  as  having  been  mainly  built  of  logs  *^  so 
that  you  could  drive  a  pig  through  it." 
The  first  establishment,  for  the  sale  of  goods  to  ci- 


67 

yilized  men,  was  kept  by  Benjamin  Eaton.  He  went 
for  his  first  stock  to  Wattles*  Ferry  (now  Unadilla 
village)  in  a  canoe,  with  a  man  and  a  boy,  (Mr.  Samuel 
Cook,  of  Campbelltown.)  At  that  place  he  purchased 
another  canoe,  loaded  his  fleet  with  goods  and  returned 
to  Painted  Post. 

Col.  Arthur  Erwin,  the  ancestor  of  a  large  family 
bearing  his  name,  emigrated  from  Ireland  before  the 
Revolution.  During  the  war  he  served  in  the  Ameri- 
can army.  He  resided  in  Bucks  County,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  became  the  proprietor  of  a  large  landed  es- 
tate. He  was  shot  dead  through  the  window  of  a  log 
house  at  Tioga  Point,  in  1Y92,  by  an  ejected  squatter, 
who  escaped. 

Hon.  William  Steele,  a  well  known  and  highly  re- 
spected citizen  of  Painted  Post,  removed  from  New 
Jersey  in  1819.  He  served  in  the  war  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  was  severely  wounded  and  made  prisoner  at 
sea  in  1780.  In  1785  he  was  appointed  clerk  in  the 
old  Board  of  Treasury,  and  in  1794  he  commanded  a 
troop  of  horse  and  aided  in  suppressing  the  insurrection 
near  Pittsburgh.  He  died  in  1851.  {Obituary  notice 
in  Coming  Journal.) 

THE    SETTLEMENT    OF    THE    UPPER    VALLEY    OF    THE 

CANISTEO. 


80 


A  party  of  boatmen  attached  to  General  Sullivan's 
army  in  the  invasion  of  the  Genesee  in  1779,  while 
awaiting  in  the  Chemung  River  the  return  of  their 
commander  and  his  column  from  the  north,  pushed  up 


68 


I 
I 


the  river  as  far  as  the  Painted  Post,  out  of  curiositj  to 
know  how  the  land  lay  on  the  northwestern  branches 
of  the  Susquehanna.  Among  the  soldiers  of  SuDivan 
was  Uriah  Stephens,  Jr.,  a  PennsyWanian.  He  believ- 
ing, from  the  report  of  the  boatmen,  that  some  fertile 
flat  might  lie  among  those  northern  hills  where  fron- 
tiersmen, not  bountifully  provided  fur  in  the  lower  val- 
leys, might  found  settlements  and  thrive  for  a  time  on 
venison  and  hominy,  determined  after  the  war  to  seek 
such  a  place  and  to  emigrate  thither. 

Mr.  Stephens  belonged  to  a  numerous  family  of  New 
England  descent,  which  had  settled  at  an  early  day  in 
the  Wyoming  region ;  and  they,  with  other  families 
which  afterwards  joined  them  in  the  settlement  of  the 
Upper  Canisteo,  suffered  in  the  attack  of  the  Indians 
and  Tories  on  that  ill-fated  district  in  1778.  One  of 
the  oldest  surviving  meabers  of  the  family  was  carried 
in  the  arms  of  a  neighbor  (James  Hadley,  also  a  settler 
of  Canisteo,)  from  the  farm  to  the  fort,  and  though  al- 
most an  infant  at  the  time  retains  distinctly  the  impres- 
sion made  by  the  night  alarm,  the  terror,  the  flight 
and  the  confusion.  The  wife  of  Col.  John  Stephens, 
a  late  well-known  citizen,  was  once  captured  by  a  party 
of  savages,  and  in  the  skirmish  and  rescue  which  ensued 
upon  the  pursuit  of  her  captors  by  the  border-men 
(one  account  says  at  the  battle  of  the  Hog-back)  was 
wounded  by  a  rifle  ball  fired  by  one  of  her  friends. 
The  Stephens',  after  several  removals  from  Wysox, 
Queen  Esther's  Flats,  and  other  localities,  were  living, 
in  the  fourth  or  fifth  year  after  the  close  of  the  Revo- 
lutionary War,  at  Newtown. 


59 

Several  families,  relatiTes  and  acquaintance,  were 
found  willing  to  engage  in  the  enterprise  of  fhrther 
emigration.  In  1788,  Solomon  Bennet,  Capt.  John 
Jameson,  Uriah  Stephens,  and  Richard  Crosby,  started 
upon  an  exploration.  Passing  up  the  Chemung  to 
Painted  Post,  they  found  there  a  few  cabins,  a  half  a 
dozen  settlers,  and  Saxton  and  Porter,  the  surveyors 
of  Phelps  and  Gorham.  Penetrating  further  into  the 
north  by  way  of  the  Conhocton  Valley,  they  found  no 
lands  which  satisfied  their  expectations.  On  their  re- 
turn they  struck  across  the  hills  from  the  upper  waters 
of  the  Conhocton,  and  after  toiling  through  the  dense 
forests  which  crowded  the  shattered  region  to  the  west- 
ward of  that  river,  they  came  suddenly  upon  the  brink 
of  a  deep  and  fine  valley  through  which  the  Canisteo 
rambled,  in  a  crooked  channel  marked  by  the  elms  and 
willows  which  overhung  it.  The  prospect  was  singu- 
larly beautiful.  The  huge  barriers  of  the  valley  laden 
with  that  noble  timber  which  raftsmen  for  half  a  cen- 
tury have  been  floating  through  the  cataracts  of  the 
Susquehanna,  ran  in  precipitous  parallels  at  a  generous 
distance  for  several  miles  and  then  closing  in,  granted 
the  river  for  its  passage  but  a  narrow  gorge  made  dark 
by  hemlocks.  A  heavy  forest  covered  the  floor  of  the 
valley.  Groves  of  gigantic  pine  stood  with  their  deep 
green  tops  in  the  midst  of  the  maples,  the  elms,  and 
the  white  sycamores.  So  even  was  the  surface  of  the 
vale,  so  abrupt  and  darkly-shaded  the  ranges  that  en- 
closed it,  that  the  explorers,  looking  down  upon  the 
tree  tops  that  covered  the  ground  from  hill  to  hill, 
seemed  to  be  standing  above  a  lake  oi  timber.    At  the 


60 


lower  part  of  the  yallej  there  was  an  open  flat,  of  seve- 
ral hundred  acres,  overgrown  with  wild  grass  so  high 
that  a  horse  and  rider  oould  pass  through  the  meadow 
almost  unseen.  It  was  like  a  little  prairie,  beautiful 
indeed,  but  strangely  out  of  place  in  that  rugged  re- 
gion,— as  if  some  great  Indian  prophet  had  stolen  a 
choice  fragment  from  the  hunting  grounds  of  the  Mis- 
souri and  hidden  it  in  the  midst  of  mountains  bristling 
with  gloomy  hemlocks. 

The  explorers  decided  to  purchase  the  two  townships 
on  the  river,  which  included  the  open  flats.  Eight 
other  men  joined  in  the  purchase  :  Col.  Arthur  Urwin, 
Joel  Thomas,  Uriah  Stephens,  (father  of  Uriah  Ste- 
phens, Jr.,)  John  Stephens,  his  son,  William  Wine- 
coop,  James  Hadley,  Elisha  Brown  and  Christian 
Kress. 

In  the  summer  of  1789,  a  company  of  men  were  sent 
to  the  flats,  who  cut  and  stacked  a  sufficient  quantity 
of  wild  grass  to  winter  the  cattle  that  were  to  be 
driven  on.  In  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  Uriah 
Stephens,  the  elder,  and  Richard  Crosby,  with  por- 
tions of  their  families,  started  from  Newtown  to  begin 
the  proposed  settlement.  The  provisions,  baggage' and 
families  were  carried  up  in  seven- ton  boats,  while  four 
sons  of  Mr.  Stephens,  Elias,  Elijah,  Benjamin  and 
William,  drove  along  the  shore  the  cattle  belonging  to* 
the  two  families  in  the  boats,  and  to  four  other  families 
which  were  to  join  them  in  the  spring.  From  the  month 
of  the  Canisteo  to  the  upper  flats,  the  movement  was 
tedious  and  toilsome.  Frequent  rifts  were  to  be  as- 
cended, and  the  channel  was  often  to  be  cleared  of  ob- 


r  seve- 
[)  high 
leadow 
autiful 
;ed  rO' 
olen  a 
6  Mis- 
istliDg 

rnships 
Eight 
Urwiu, 
ih  Ste- 
Wine- 
iristian 

}re  sent 
lantity 
)  to  be 
,  Uriah 
Lh  por- 
0  begin 
^e'and 
lie  four 
nn  and 
gingtcr 
amilies 
)  month 
ni  was 
be  as- 
of  ob- 


61 

Btractions,  the  trunks  of  trees  and  dams  of  drift-wood. 
On  one  day,  they  made  but  six  miles.  However,  as 
the  destinies,  after  forty  centuries  of  hesitation,  had 
decided  that  Upper  Canisteo  must  be  civilized,  all 
obRtacles  were  steadily  surmounted.  At  the  rifts, 
where  the  nose  of  the  unwieldy  boat,  plowing  under 
the  water,  at  last  wheeled  about  in  spite  of  setting 
poles  and  swearing,  and  went  down  again  to  the  foot  of 
the  rapids,  every  human  thing  that  could  pull,  went 
on  shore,  took  hold  of  a  long  rope,  and  hauled  the 
barge  up  by  main  force.  Thus  for  some  three  days 
the  pioneers  of  Canisteo  toiled  np  the  hostile  current, 
probably  not  without  some  little  noise,  as  the  shouting 
of  boatmeh,  or  the  l>awling  of  the  yonths  on  shore  at 
the  straggling  cattle,  which  sometimes  got  entangled 
in  the  willow  thickets  by  the  little  river,  sometimes 
scrambled  np  the  hill  sides,  sometimes  stopped,  shak- 
ing their  horns  in  afiright,  when  the  wolf  or  fox  bounded 
across  the  trail,  or  came  racing  back  in  paroxysms  of 
terror,  making  the  gorge  to  resound  with  strange  bel- 
lowings,  when  they  suddenly  met  the  ugly  and  growling 
bear,  sitting  like  a  foot-pad  upon  his  haunches  in  the 
middle  of  the  path,  and  so  near  to  their  unsuspecting 
nostrils,  that  he  might  cuff  the  face  of  the  forward  bul- 
lock irith  his  paw,  before  the  startled  cattle  became 
aware  that  they  had  ventured  into  the  1urkl|g-place  of 
the  ihaggy  l)rigand.  jf- 

At  length  the  persevering  voyagen  lande'd  onl^e ' 
upper  iats.    The  astcmished  cattle  found  themseiveii 
almotot  smothered  iii  the  herbage  of  the  mea^owsl   The 
first  thing  to  be  devised  wasj  of  course,  a  habitatbit. 
7 


62 


The  bark  hut  of  the  savage  was  the  only  structure 
irhich  the  wilderness  had  jet  beheld,  and  was  un- 
'doubtedlj  a  sufficient  house  for  cannibals  or  philoso- 
phers ;  but  the  pioneers^  who  were  neither  the  former 
nor  the  latter,  went  straightway  into  the  woods,  cut 
down  certain  trees,  and  built  a  luxurious  castle  of  logs, 
26  feet  long  by  24  wide.  There  was  but  one  room  be- 
low. Four  fire-places  were  excavated  in  the  four 
corners,  and  they  who  know  what  caverns  fire-places 
were  in  old  times,  can  imagine  the  brilliant  appearance 
«of  this  Canisteo  Castle  at  night,  through  the  winter, 
when  the  blaze  of  burning  logs  in  all  the  furnaces 
niled  the  cabin  with  light,  and  glimmering  through  the 
crevices,  was  seen  by  the  Indian  as  he  walked  by  on 
the  crackling  crust  of  thesnow  toward  his  lodge  in  the 
woods.  In  the  following  spring  a  family  was  en- 
camped before  each  of  the  fire-places,  and  occupied 
each  its  own  territory  with  as  much  good  humour  as 
if  divided  from  the  others  by  stone  walls  and  gates  of 
brass. 

The  two  families  passed  here  the  first  winter  very 
comfortably.  In  the  spring  of  1790  they  were  joined 
by  Solomon  Bennet,  Uriah  Stephens,  Jr.,  and  Colonel 
John  Stephens  his  brother,  with  their  families.  As 
soon  as  the  weather  permitted,  they  set  about  prepar- 
ing the  groim^  for  seed.  Although  the  flat  was  free 
from  timber/  Ihis  was  no  trifling  task.  The  roots  of 
the  gigantic  wild  grass,  braided  and  tangled  together 
below  the  surface,  protected  the  earth  against  the  plow 
with  «^  net  so  tight  and  stout,  that  ordinary  means  of 
brea)(ing  the  soil  fiiiled  entirely.    Four  yoke  of.  oxen 


t 

:   f 

At 

•I 


3 


63 


110 


I'M 


tUi 


m 

t 

I  ;  * 


v 


fbrped  the  coulter  through  this  well- woven  netting,  and 
the  snapping  and  tearing  of  the  roots  as  thej  gave  way 
hefbre  the  strength  of  eight  healthy  heeves  was  heard 
to  a  considerable  aistance,  like  the  ripping  of  a  mat. 
The  settlers  never  learned  the  origin  of  these  mea- 
dows. "  Captain  John  the  Indian"  said  that  he  knew 
nothing  of  their  origin ;  they  were  cleared  *'  before 
the  time  of  his  people."  After  the  frosts,  when  the 
herbage  had  become  dry  and  crisp,  the  grass  was  set 
on  fire,  and  a  very  pretty  miniature  of  a  prairie-qn-fire 
it  made.  The  flames  flashed  over  the  flats  almoist  as 
over  a  floor  strewn  with  gunpowder.  A  swift  horse 
could  not  keep  before  them.  The  wild  grass,  by  suc- 
cessive mowings  and  burning,  became  less  rank  and 
more  nutritious.  In  time  it  gradually  changed  to 
*'  tame  grass,^'  and  at  the  present  day  there  are  mea- 
dows on  the  Canisteo  which  have  never  been  broken 

by  the  plow.  .,     ^^>      i         j.u 

After  the  sowing  of  i^pinng  wlieal;  and  ^q  planting 
of  the  corn,  the  settlers  constructed  a  log  fence  on  a 
scale  as  magnificent,  considering  their  numbers,  as 
that  of  the  Chinese  trail.  This  ponderous  battlement 
enclosed  nearly  fbur  hundred  acres  cf  land.  The  flats 
were  divided  among  the  proprietors.  From  the  pre- 
sent site  of  Bebnetsville  down  to  the  next  township,  a 
distance  of  about  six  miles,  twelve  lot|  were  laid  out 
from  hill  to  hill  across  the  valley,  and  Msigned  by  lot 
to  the  several  proprietors.  The  lot  upon  which  the 
first  house  was  built  ii  known  as  the  '*  Bennet"  or 
'*  Pampelly  farm."  That  part  of  it  upon  which  the 
house  stood  is  upon  the  farm  of  Mr.  Jacob  Doty.    In 


,64 

the  course  of  the  same  spring  (1790)  Joded^fth.  Ste- 
phens, John  Redford,  and  Andrew  Bennet  settled  in 
the  neighborhood.  Jedediah  Stephens,  afterwards  well 
known  to  the  citizens  of  the  county,  wa9>  faitl^ful  and 
'  respected  preacher  of  the  Baptist  denomination.  His 
house  was  jfor  many  years  the  resort  of  nussionaries 
and  religious  travellers  who  passed  through  the  yalley, 
and  indeed  was  said  to  he  one  of  the  few  plaqea  where 
pilgrims  of  a  serious  disposition,  and  not  inclined  to 
join  the  boisterous  company  of  the  neighborhood|.c^ould 
fih4  lodgings  entirely  to  their  satisfaction.     \.,.^ , 

the  harvest  abundantly  attested  the  fertility,  of  the 
valley.    Seventy  or  seventy-five  bushels  of  com  wf re 
yielded  to  the  acre.     Indeed,  the  timbered  flats  have 
been  known  to  yield  seven|;y-five  bushels  of  ,co^, 
planted  with  the  hoe  aft^r  logging*     They  sent  their 
grain  in  canoes  to  Shepherd's  Mill^  on  the  Susquehan- 
na, a  short  distance  above  Tioga  t^oint,  and  nearly  one 
hundred  miles  distant  from  Canisteo. 
''''  A  few  random  notes  of  the  settlement  of  this  neigh- 
borhood may  be  added.    Solompn  Bennet  was  one  of 
its  l^^ding  spirits.    He  was  a  lifunter  of  renown,  and 
bequeathed  his  skill  anct  good  fortune  to  his  sons,  who 
became  well  known  citizens  of  the  county,  and  were 
fakous  for  readiness  with  the  knife  and  ri^e,  and  for 
'^|>erhaps  some  shallow  spirit  of  judgment' ^ (or  b^ttejr) 
touching  tri^,    Mr.  Bennet  built,  in  1798,  the  firtt 
grist  mil)  on  the  Canisteo.    It  stood  (and  also  a  8^;w- 
mill  we  are  told)  on  Bonnet's  creek,  about  half  a  mile 
from  its  mouth.    It  stood  but  a  year  or  two  irhen  it 
was,  unfortanately,  burned  to  the  ground.    This  mill 


lUl 


was  resorted  to  sometimes  by  the  citizens  of  Bath. 
Early  settlers  remember  how  the  pioneer  boys  came 
over  the  hills,  through  the  unbroken  woods,  with  their 
ox-drays,  and  retain  vividly  the  image  of  a  distin- 
guished  settler  who  came  over  from  the  Pine  Plains 
with  '*  his  little  brown  mare  and  a  sheepskin  to  ride 
upon"  after  a  bag  of  corn-meal  to  keep  off  starvation. 
Flour  was  sometimes  sent  by  canoes  down  the  Canis- 
teo  and  up  the  Conhocton.  After  the  burning  of  the 
mill,  the  settlers  were  again  compelled  to  send  their 
grain  in  canoes  to  Shepherd's  Mill.  Mr.  Bennet  went 
to  New  York  to  purchase  machinery  for  a  new  mill, 
but  became  engaged  in  other  business,  and  failed  to 
minister  to  the  urgent  necessity  of  his  neighbors. 
George  Hornell  (afterwards  well  known  as  Judge  Hor- 
nell)  settled  in  Canisteo  in  1793.  He  was  induced  to 
build  a  mill  on  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  present 
Hornellsville  Mills.  So  impatient  were  the  settlers  for 
the  erection  of  the  building,  that  they  turned  out  and 
prepared  the  timber  for  it  voluntarily. 

The  first  goods  were  sold  by  Solomon  Bennet.  Judge 
Hornell  and  William  Dunn  visited  the  neighborhood 
at  an  early  day  for  trade  with  the  Indians.  James 
McBumey,  of  Ireland,  first  came  to  Canisteo  as  a 
pedler.  He  bought  Great  Lot,  No.  12,  in  the  lower 
township  of  Bennet,  and  other  lands ;  weni  to  Ireland, 
and  upon  his  return  settled  some  of  his  countrymen 
on  his  lands. 

Christopher  Hulburt  and  Nathaniel  Cary  settled  in 
1795  at  Arkport.  The  former  ran,  in  1 800  or  about 
that  time,  the  first  ark  laden  with  wheat  that  descend- 
1" 


66 


ed  the  Canisteo,  and  about  the  same  time  John  Morrison 
ran  the  first  raft.  The  honor  of  piloting  the  first  orftft 
of  the  kind  out  of  the  Canisteo,  however}  is  also  claimed 
ibr  Benjamin  Patterson. 

Dr.  Nathan  Hallett,  Jeremiah  Baker,  Daniel  Pprdj, 
Oliver  Harding,  Thomas  Batler,  J.  Russelman,  the 
Upsons,  the  Stearns,  and  the  Dykes  also  were  among 
the  earliest  settlers  on  the  upper  Canisteo.  /| 

The  first  taverns  were  kept  in  the  year  1800)  or 
about  that  time,  by  Judge  Uornell,  at  his  mills,  and  hj 
Jedediah  Stephens  below  Bennet'a  Creek.  The  first 
hoube  in  Hornellsville  stood  upop  the  site  of  Mr  Hugh 
Magee's  Hotel. 

Under  the  old  organization  of  the  County  of  Ont&rio} 
the  settlement  of  Canisteo  was  in  the  town  of  William- 
sdn,  which  comprised  a  large  part  of  what  is  now 
Western  Steuben  County,  Allegany  County,  and  how 
much  niiore  we  know  not.  Jedediah  Stephens  was  th^ 
drdt  Supervisor  of  that  town,  and  attended  the  meeting 
6f  the  Board  at  Canandaigua.  Town  meeting  was 
held  at  the  house  of  Uriah  j^tephens.  And  qeveii  votes 
were  cast.  ? ' 

Solomon  Bennct  is  said  by  the  settlers  of  CanisteO) 
to  have  been  th^  Captain.  John  Stephens,  the  lieii<p 
tenant,  and  Richard  Crosby  the  ensign  oif  the  %st 
military  company  organized  in  Steuben  County. 

A  large  plroportion  of  the  first  settlers  of  Capisteo. 
Were  from  Pennsylvania,  and  had  within  them  a  goodly 
infusion  of  that  boisterous  spirit  and  love  of  rough 
play  for  which  ihe  free  and  manly  sons  of  the  back- 
woods are  everywhere  famous.    On  the  Sttequohannh. 


J 


\t   \r.ai   J U'./ii ♦»'  iif»»y'  ti 


'.  'if! 
«  - 


67 


r-t 


steo 


frontier,  before  the  Revolution,  had  arisen  an  athletic 
scoffling  wrestling  race,  lovers  of  hard  blows,  sharp- 
shooters and  runners,  who  delighted  in  nothing  more 
than  in  those  ancient  sports  by  which  the  backs  and 
limbs  of  all  stout-hearted  youth  have  been  tested  since 
the  days  of  Hercules.  The  eating  of  bears,  the 
drinking  of  grog,  the  devouring  of  hominy,  venison, 
and  all  the  invigorating  diet  of  the  frontiers;  the 
hewing  down  of  forests,  the  paddling  of  canoes, 
the  fighting  of  savages,  all  combined  to  form  a  gene- 
ration of  yeomen  and  foresters,  daring,  rude  and 
free.  Canisteo  was  a  sprout  from  this  stoat  stock, 
and  on  the  generous  river-flats  flourished  with  amazing 
vigor. 

Life  there  was  decidedly  Olympic.     The  old  Pyth- 
ian games  were  revived  with  an  energy  that  would 
have  almost  put  a  soul  into  the  bones  of  Pindar ;  and 
although  many  of  the  details  <^  those  classic  festivals 
upon  which  the  schoolmasters  dwell  with  especial  de- 
light wer^  wanting — the  odes,  the  crowns  of  oak,  the 
musf 0,  and  so  on^ — nevertheless,  one  cannot  help  think- 
ing that  for  the  primitive  boxers  and  sportsmen  of 
the    old    school,  men  who    wore  lions'    hides    and 
carried  clubs,  the  horse^play  of  Canisteo  would  have 
been  quite  as  entertainii^g  as  the  flutes  and  dog* 
gerel    of   Delphi.      Every  thing    that    could    eat, 
drin^  and  wrestle,  was  welcome;  Turk  or  TttScaror%« 
Anak,  or  Anthropophagus,  Blue  Beard  or  Blundef-^' 
bore.     A  *^back-h^|d"  with  a  Ghoul  would  not  have 
been  declined,  noir  a  drinkmg  match  with  a  Berserkir. 
Smce  the  Centaurs  never  has  there  been  better  speci- 
men of  a  "  half -horse"  tribe.    To  many  of  the  settlers 


w  .    .;  I 


68 


in  other  parts  of  the  connty  who  emigrated  from  the 
decorous  oi?ilization  of  the  east  and  south,  these  bois- 
terous foresters  were  objects  of  astonishment.    When 
'^  Canisteer'-  went  abroad,  the  public  soon  found  it 
out.    On  the  Conhocton  they  were  known  to  some  as 
the  SiX'J^ationSf  and  to  the  amusement  and  wonder 
of  young  Europeans,  would  sometimes  visit  at  Bath, 
being  of  a  social  disposition,  and  sit  all  day,  '*  sing- 
ing, telling  stories  and  drinking  grog,  and  never  get 
drunk  nayther."    To  the  staid  and  devout  they  were 
Arabs, — cannibals.   Intercourse  between  the  scattered 
settlements  of  the  county  was  of  course  limited  mainly 
to  visits  of  necessity ;  but  rumor  took  the  fair  fame  of 
Canisteo  in  hand,  and  gave  the  settlement  a  notoriety 
through  all  the  land,  which  few  '*  rising  villages''  even 
of  the  present  day  enjoy.    It  was  pretty  well  under- 
stood over  all  the  country  that  beyond  the  mountains 
of  Steuben,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  rugged  district 
of  the  wilderness,  lay  a  corn-growing  valley  which  had 
been  taken  possession  of  by  some  vociferous  tribe, 
whether  of  Mamelukes  or  Tartars  no  one  could  pre- 
cisely say ;  whose  whooping  and  obstreperous  laughter 
was  hoard  far  and  wide,  surprising  the  solitudes. 

The  *'  Romans  of  the  West"  were  not  long  in  find- 
ing out  these  cousins,  and  many  a  rare  riot  they  had 
with  them.  The  uproars  of  these  festivals  beggar 
description.  The  valley  seemed  a  den  of  maniacs.' 
The  savages  came  down  four  or  five  times  in  each  year 
from  Sqnakie  Hill  for  horse  and  foot-racing,  and  to' 
play  all  manner  of  rude  sports.  In  wrestling,  <Nr^ 
in  ^' rough-and-tumble"  they  were  not  matches  for  the 


&  ^ : 


69 


]the 


Bottlers,  many  of  whom  were  proficients  in  the  Snsqne- 
banna  sciences,  and  had  been  regularly  trained  in  all 
the  wisdom  of  the  ancients.  The  Indians  were  power- 
ful of  frame  and  of  good  stature.  The  settlers  agree 
that  ^*  they  were  quick  as  cats,  but  the  poor  critters 
had  no  system."  When  fairly  grappled,  the  Indians 
generally  came  off  second  best.  They  were  slippery 
and  'Mimber  like  snakes,"  oiling  themselves  freely, 
and  were  so  adroit  in  squirming  out  of  the  clinch  of 
the  farmers,  that  it  was  by  no  means  the  most  trifling 
part  of  the  contest  to  keep  the  red  antagonist  in  the 
hug.  •  ^^ 

1  In  these  wrestling  matches,  Elias  Stephens  was  the 
champion.  He  was  called  the  '*  smartest  Stephens  on 
the  riyer,"  and  was  in  addition  claimed  by  bis  friends 
as  the  '*  smartest"  man  in  the  country  at  large.  No 
Indian  in  the  Six  Nations  could  lay  him  on  bis  back. 
A  powerful  young  chief  was  once  brought  by  his  tribe 
from  Tonewanta  to  test  the  strength  of  the  Canisteo 
Champion.  He  had  been  carefully  trained  and  exer- 
cised, and  after  *'  sleeping  in  oiled  blankets"  for  4Bev- 
eral  nights,  was  brought  into  the  ring.  Stephens  grap- 
pled with  him.  At  the  first  round  the  chief  was  hurled 
to  the  ground  with  a  thigh-bone  broken.  His  backers 
were, very  a^gry,  and,  drawing  their  knives,  threatened 
to  kill  the  victor.  He  and  his  friend  Daniel  Upson, 
took  each  a  sled-stake  and  standing  back  to  back  de- 
fied them.  The  matter  was  finally  made  up,  and  the 
unlucky  chief  Was  borne  away  on  a  deer-skin,  stretched 
between  two  poles.*    In  addition  to  this,  Stephens 

*  Stephens  wm  trained  by  a  wrestler  of  some  note  living  on  tiie 


# 


70 


onoe  maintained  the  credit  of  the  Oanisteo  by  signally 
discomfiting  a  famous  ixrrestler  from  the  Hog-baok. 

Foot  races,  long  and  short,  for  rods  or  miles,  were  fa- 
vorite diyer8ionF>.  In  these  the  Indians  met  with  better 
suooess  than  in  wrestling ;  but  even  in  racing  they  did 
not  maintain  the  credit  of  their  nation  to  their  entire 
satisfaction,  for  there  was  now  and  then  a  long-winded 
youth  among  the  settlers  who  beat  the  barbarians  at 
their  own  game.  So  for  horse-racing,  this  ancient  and 
heroic  pastime  was  carried  on  with  a  zeal  that  would 
shame  Newmarket.  The  Indians  came  down  on  these 
occasions  with  all  their  households,  women,  children, 
dogs  and  horses.  The  settlers  found  no  occasion  to 
complain  of  their  savage  guests.  They  conducted 
themselves  with  civility,  generally,  and  even  formed 
in  some  instances,  warm  friendships  with  their  hosts. 

Infant  Canisteo  of  course  followed  in  the  footsteps 
of  senior  Canisteo.     When  fathers  and  big  brothers 


ing 
infad 
Lett 
self 


Ohemaag  named  McCormick,  who  afterward  was  (or  many  yean  a 
citizen  of  thiii  county.  McCormick  waa  a  British  aoldier,  and  reputed 
to  be  the  most  powerful  and  expert  pugilist  in  the  army.  He  de- 
serted daring  the  Revolutionary  war  and  went  with  Arnold  to  Que- 
bec After  the  fiulura  of  the  desperate  assault  on  that  town,  Mc- 
Cormick, with  a  party  of  American  soldiers,  were  standing  on  the  ke 
of  the  St.  Lawrence  when  the  British  approached  to  make  them 
prisoners.  Knowing  that  the  deserter  would  be  hanged,  if  taken, 
his  comrades  gathered  around  him  in  a  huddle,  pretending  to  pre- 
pare resistance.  The  British  parlied.  In  the  mean  time  McOomick 
pulled  oif  his  shoes,  for  "  the  ice  was  as  smooth  as  a  bottle,"  and  ran. 
A  shower  of  ballets  rattled  around  him,  but  he  was  so  fortonate  as 
to  escape  unhurt  Captain  Silas  Wheeler,  late  of  the  town  of  Whee- 
ler, was  in  that  crowd,  and  gires  McCormick  the  credit  of  extraor- 
dinary Iviskness.  oAv;  ic 


n 


signally 
•baok. 
were  fa- 
th  better 
they  did 
)ir  entire 
^-winded 
rians  at 
sient  and 
at  woald 
on  these 
children, 
iasion  to 
mdacted 
ti  formed 
r  hosts, 
botsteps 
brothers 


found  delight  in  scuffling  with  barbarians,  and  in  rac-*^ 
ing  with  Indian  ponies,  it  would  have  b^en  strange  if 
infant  Canisteo  had  taken  of  its  own  aceord  to  Belles  '>^ 
Lettres,  and  Arithmetic.    The  strange  boy  found  him- 
self in  a  den  of  young  bears.    He  was  promptly  re- 
quired to  fight,  and  after  siich  an  introduction  to  the   • 
delights  of  the  valley,  was  admitted  to  freedom  of  trap  ' 
and  fishery  in  all  the  streams  and  forests  of  the  com- 
monwealth.    And  for  infant  Canisteo,  considering 
that  passion  for  wild  life  which  plays  the  mischief 
with  boys  every  were,  even  in  the  very  ovens  of  refine- 
ment, a  more  congenial  region  could  not  have  been 
found.    The  rivers  and  brooks  alive  with  fish,  the  hills 
stocked  with  deer,  the  groves  populous  with  squirrels^ 
the  partridges  drumming  in  the  bushes,  thd  raccoons 
scrambling  in  the  tree- tops,  removed  every  temptation 
to  run;  away  in  search  of  a  solitary  island  and  a  man 
Friday ;  while  their  little  ill-tempered  Iroquois  play- 
fellows, with  their  arrow-practice,  theiroccasiofial  skir- 
mishes, and  their   mimic  war-paths,    satisfiol  those 
desires  to  escape  from  school  to  the  Rocky  Mountains 
and  the  society  of  griz&i}-  bears  and  Camanches,  which 
so  oftea  turn  the  heads  of  youngsters  nurtured  in  the 
politest  of  academies*  rtn  ^^  Sfie^'^t 

This  backwoods  mode  of  education,  though  by  no 
means  so  exquisite  as  our  modem  systems,  hai  proved 
nevertheless  quite  efficient  for  practical  purposes.  The 
boys  who  in  early  times  played  with  the  heathen  and 
persecuted  raccoons,  instead  of  learning  their  gram- 
mars havC)  astonishing  to  see,  become  neither  pagans 
nor  idiots.    Some;  have  become  farmers,  som^  lumber- 


72 

meoi  some  superTisors,  and  some  jiAtioes  of  the  peace ; 
and  whether  in  the  field  or  in  the  saw-mill,  whethto  in 
the  county's  august  parliament,  or  in  the  chair  of  the 
magistrate^  the  duties  of  all  those  stations  seem  to 
have  heen  performed  substantiallj  as  well  as  needs  be. 
For  the  Robin  Hoods  of  Canisteo  could  plow,  mow, 
and  fell  trees,  if  need  be,  as  well  as  the  best,  and  did 
not  hold  laziness  in  higher  respeet  than  did  the  other 
pioneers  of  the  county. 

The  Indians  made  their  appearance  shortly  after 
the  landing  of  the  settlers — the  Canisteo  Valley  haying 
long  been  a  favorite  hunting  field.   The  men  of  Wyom- 
ing found  among  them  many  of  their  old  antagonists. 
Tories  n^yer  were  forgiven,  but  the  proffered  friend- 
ship of  the  Indians  was  accepted :  old  enmitiet  were 
forgotten*  and  the  settlers  and  savages  lived  together 
on  the  moat  amicable  terms.    Shortly  after  their  arri- 
val, an  old  Indian,  afterwards  well  known  as  **  Captain 
John,"  made  his  appearance,  and  on  seeing  the  elder 
Stephensjy^ent  into  a  violent  fit  of  merriment.    Lan- 
guage failed  to  express  the  cause  of  his  amusement,  which ' 
seemed  to  be  some  absurd  reminiscence  suddenly  sug- 
gestfed  by  the  sight  of  the  settler,  and  the  old  *^  Roman"" 
resorted  to  pantomime.    He  imitated  the  gestures  ot 
a  mau  smoking — putting  his  hand  to  his  mouth  to  with- 
draw an  imaginary  pipe,  then  turning  up.  his  moutli 
and  blowing  an  imaginary  cloud  of  smoke,  then  stoop* 
ing  :tQrtie  an  imaginary  shoe,  then  taking  an  imaginar^r 
boy  in  his  sirms  and  running  away,  and  returning  wiUi 
violent  peal»  of  laughter.    One  of  the  lOns  of  Mr. 
Stephens^  a  hot  and  athletic  youth,  supposing  that  the 


iliM 


78 


leaoa; 
hdr  in 
>r  the 
em  to 
ds  be. 

mow, 
id  did  ' 

other  ir 

after  ti  J 
tiaying'iw 

Vjom- 

riend-  i'' 
§  wete'f^i 
gether  or 
r  arri- 


»» 


Indian  was  "  making  fun"  of  his  father,  snatched  up 
a  pounder  to  knock  him  on  the  head.  Captain  John 
was  driven  from  the  ideal  to  the  real,  and  made  good 
his  retreat.  He  afterwards  became  a  fast  friend  of  the 
settlers,  and  explained  the  cause  of  his  merriment. 

When  Mr.  Stephens  lived  near  Wyoming,  he  was 
one  day  going  from  his  farm  to  the  fort,  with  two  oxen 
and  a  horse,  which  were  attached  to  some  kind  of 
vehicle.    His  boy,  Phineas,  was  riding  on  the  horse. 
Mr.  Stephens  was  an  inveterate  smoker,  and  walked 
by  .the  sido  of  the  oxen,  puffing  after  the  manner  imi- 
tated  by  Captain  John.    While  passing  through  the 
woods  near  a  fork  of  the  roads,  his  shoe  stuck  in  the 
mud,  and  was  drawn  off  his  foot.     Just  as  he  stooped 
to  recover  it,  a  rifle  was  fired  from  the  bushes,  which 
killed  the  nigh  ox,  by  the  side  of  which  he  had  been 
walking.     The  .alarm  of  ^^  Indians  P*  was  sounded 
from  the  other  branch  of  the  road,  where  some  of  his 
neighbors  were  killed.   Mr.  Stephens  started  and  ran, 
but  his  boy  crying  out,  "  Don't  leave  mo,  father  !'*  he 
returned  and  took  him  in  his  arms,  and  fled  to  the 
fort.     The  ambushed  rifleman  was  none  other  than 
Captain  John,  and  he,  recognizing  the  smoker  fifteen 
years  after  the  adventure,  was  quite  overpowered  at 
the  recollection  of  the  joke. 

Another  meeting  of  two  old  enemies  took  place  on 
the  banks  of  the  Canisteo  not  long  afterwards.  Major 
Moses  Van  Campen,  (late  of  Dansville,  Livingston 
County,)  well  known  to  the  Six  Nations  as  a  powerful, 
daring  and  sagacious  ranger  in  the  border  wars  of 
Pennsylvania,  moved  up  the  river  with  a  colony  des- 
8 


74 

tined  for  Allegany  County,  and  offered  to  land  at 
^e  settlement  on  Canisteo  Flats.    Van  Campen  was 
especially  obnoxious  to  the  Indians  for  the  part  he  had 
taken  as  a  leader  of  a  bold  and  destructive  attack^ 
made  in  the  night,  by  himself  and  two  others,  prisoners, 
(Pence  and  Pike  by  name,)  upon  the  party  by  which 
they  had  been  captured  in  an  incursion  against  the 
settlements,  in  which  Van  Campen's  father  and  young 
brother  had  been  killed  before  his  own  eyes.     Therd 
were  ten  Indians  in  the  party.    One  evening,  while 
encamped  at  Wyalusing  Flats,  on  their  way  to  Niagara, 
Van  Campen  resolved  to  put  in  execution  a  long  medi- 
tated  plan  of  escape.     Ho  managed  to  conceal  under 
his  foot  a  knife  which  had  been  dropped  by  an  Indian, 
and  with  this,  at  midnight,  the  prisoners  cut  them- 
selves loose.    They  stole  the  guns  from  their  sleeping 
enemies,  and  placed  them  against  a  tree.    Pike's  heart 
failed  him,  and  he  laid  down  just  as  the  two  allotted 
to  him  for  execution  awoke  and  were  arising.    Van 
Camping,  seeing  that  *^  their  heads  were  turned  up 
fair,"  killed  them  with  a  tomahawk,  and  three  besides. 
Pence  killed  four  with  tho  guns.     Van  Campen  struck 
his  hatchet  into  the  neck  of  the  only  remaining  Indian, 
a  chief  named  Mohawk,  who  turned  and  grappled  with 
him.     A  desperate  and  doubtful  struggle  followed,  one 
being  sometimes  uppermost  and  sometimes  the  other. 
Van  Campen  was  half  blinded  by  the  blood  of  his 
wounded  antagonist,  who  felt,  as  often  as  he  got  oppor* 
tunity,  for  the  knife  in  his  belt.    This  would  have  soon 
settled  the  contest,  and  Van  Campen  finally  stuck  his 


76 


)or- 
»oon 


toes  into  the  Indian's  belt  and  hoisted  him  off.    The 
latter  bonnded  into  the  woods  and  escaped. 

The  savages  recognized  Van  Campen  on  his  arrival 
«t  Canisteo  as  "  the  man  that  lent  John  Mohawk  the 
hatchet."  Captain  Mohawk  himself  was  there,  and 
bad  a  special  cause  of  grievance  to  exhibit  in  a  neck 
set  slightly  awry  from  the  blow  of  the  tomahawk.  The 
settlers  rallied  for  the  defence  of  Van  Campen.  There 
was  every  prospect  of  a  bloody  fight ;  but  after  much 
wrangling  it  was  agreed  that  the  two  parties  should 
divide  while  Van  Campen  and  Mt)hawk  advanced  be- 
tween them  to  hold  a  "  talk."  This  was  done,  and  in 
a  conference  of  considerable  length  between  the  two 
old  antagonists,  the  causes  of  difficulty  were  discussed, 
and  it  was  finally  decided  that  each  was  doing  his  duty 
then,  but  that  now  war  being  ended,  they  ought  to  for- 
get past  injuries.  Mohawk  offered  his  hand.  The 
threatened  fight  became  a  feast.  A  keg  of  spirits  was 
broken  and  the  hills  rang  with  riot.* 

The  Indians  sometimes  entertained  the  men  of  Ca- 
nisteo with  a  display  of  their  military  circumstance, 
and  marched  forth  on  the  flats,  to  the  number  of  three 
hundred  warriors,  in  full  costume,  to  dance  the  grand 
war-dance.    They  made  a  fire  about  eight  rods  long 

^^     »■      ■    ■         ■■     I    I         ■    ■■11  ..■  _       .  I  MII..I     I  ■  I         ■  I  ■■..!  I  —— 1^— ^ 

*  Mohawk  was  a  nobld  warrior, — a  Roman  indeed.  Bee  Stone's 
life  of  Brant  (somewhere  in  the  second  yolume)  for  an  incident 
which  occurred  in  the  captivity  of  the  gallant  Oapi  Alexander  Har- 
per. The  "single  voice"  which  responded  with  "the  dtath  yM^ 
was  Mohawk's  without  doabi  "  The  name  of  this  high>souled  war- 
nor  "  is  not  lost,  as  Col.  Stone  feared.  The  bic^rapher  of  Van  Cam- 
pen  makes  out  a  satisfvctory  case  for  Captain  Mohawk. 


w 


and  paraded  around  it  with  hideous  chants  and  a  great 
clattering  of  little  deer-skin  drums.  On  one  Of  these 
grand  field-days,  the  whole  trihe,  arrayed  most  fantas- 
tically, was  marching  around  the  fire,  and  with  the 
flourishing  of  knives,  the  hattering  of  drums,  and  the 
howling  of  war  songs,  had  worked  themselves  up  into 
a  brilliant  state  of  excitement.  The  settlers,  hoys  and 
men,  were  standing  near  watching  the  performance, 
when  a  high-heeled  young  savage  stepped  out  of  the 
line  and  inquired  of  one  of  the  bystanders — 

"  What's  your  name  1 " 

The  settler  informed  him. 

"  D d  liar !  d        d  hog ! "  said  the  Indian. 

Elias  Stephens,  who  was  a  prompt  and  high  tem- 
pered youth,  said,  "  Daniel,  I  wish  he  would  just  aek 
me  that  question." 

The  Indian  instantly  turned  and  said, 

"What's  your  name  1 " 

"  Elias  Stephens." 

«  D ^i  liar !  d d " 

The.  sentence  remains  unfinished  up  to  the  present 
date.  A  well-planted  blow  of  the  fist  knocked  the 
barbarian  headlong  over  the  fire,  senseless.  The  sen- 
sation for  a  moment  was  great.  The  dance  was  stopped, 
the  drums  became  dumb ;  tomahawks  and  knives  were 
brandished  no  longer,  and. the  savag en  stood  aloof  in 
•uch  angry  astonishment,  that  the  bystanders  trembled 
for  their  skulls.  The  Chief  however  came  forward, 
and  striking  Stephens  approvingly  on  the  shonldeiS, 
said,  "  Good  enough  for  Indian."  He  expected  his 
warriors  to  behave  themselves  like  gentlemen,   and 


fl 


wlien  copper-colored  gentlemen  so  far  forgot  tbemselyes 
as  to  use  indelicate  or  personal  language,  he  would 
thank  pale-faced  gentlemen  to  knock  them  over  the 
fire,  or  through  the  fire,  or  into  the  fire,  as  it  might 
bo  most  convenient.  The  dance  went  on  with  renewed 
Tigor,  but  the  punished  pagan  descended  from  his  high 
horse  and  sat  aside  in  silence,  volunteering  during  the 
rest  of  the  entertainment  no  inore  flourishes  not  pro- 
mised «  on  the  bills."  '*^"' 

Sometimes  the  Indians  treated  the  settlers  to  a  dis- 
play of  their  tactics.  Hiding  behind  a  rampart  of  roots 
or  lying  in  ambush  among  the  bushes,  at  a  signal  given 
the  whole  party  fired  their  rifles  at  certain  imaginary 
foes.  The  chief  sprang  up  and  raised  the  war-whoop, 
and  then  the  three  hundred  joined  in  that  frightful  cry 
of  the  Six  Nations,  which,  to  use  the  favorite  phrase 
of  the  pioneers,  "was  enough  to  take  the  hair  off  a 
man's  head."  Then,  rushing  out,  they  tomahawked  the 
pumpkins  and  scalped  the  turnips,  then  dodged  back 
to  their  covert  and  lay  still  as  snakes. 

Elias  Stephens,  for  his  prowess  and  resolution,  be- 
came an  object  of  respect  to  the  red  gentry.  Four- 
teen men  were  working  in  Bennett's  millyard  when 
sixteen  "  Romans"  came  down  whooping  furiously,  and 
drove  the  lumbermen  from  their  work,  took  possession 
of  the  mill,  and  converted  it  into  a  dancing  saloon.  It 
was  told  to  Stephens.  "  What !"  said  he,  "  you  four- 
teen let  sixteen  of  those  critters  drive  yon  out  of  the 
yard !  Lord !  I  can  whip  a  hundred  Indians."  And 
taking  the  swingle  of  a  flail  ran  to  the  mill.  The  In- 
dians were  capering  about  in  high  glee,  brandishing 
8* 


li 


78 

their  kniyes  and  shrieking  very  like  Mark  Antony  and 
fifteen  other  Romans,  and  indulging  in  all  those  antics 
with  which  the  barbarians  of  the  Log-House  were  wont 
to  divert  themselves. 

*^  Put  up  those  knives,  damn  you,  and  march,"  said 
Stephens.  The  diversions  came  to  a  sudden  pause. 
"  Put  up  those  knives,  damn  you,  and  be  off,  or  I'll 
beat  all  your  brains  out !"  The  Romans  said  never  a 
word,  but  stuck  their  knives  into  their  belts  and  de- 
parted. 


SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  LOWEB  CANISTEO  VALLEY. 

Our  notes  of  the  settlement  of  the  lower  valley  of 
the  Canisteo  are  very  brief.  None  of  the  original  set- 
tlers of  Addison  are  now  living  in  the  county.  We 
can  present  nothing  more  than  the  names  of  these 
pioneers.  The  settlement  of  Addison  was  commenced 
probably  in  1790,  or  shortly  after.  The  first  settlers 
were  Reuben  and  Lemuel  Searles ;  John,  Isaac,  and 
James  Martin  ;  Jonathan  Tracy ;  William  Benhun ; 
Martin  Young,  and  Isaac  Morey. 

The  first  name  of  the  settlement  was  Tuscarora. 
This  was  afterwards  changed  to  Middletown,  and 
again  to  Addison. 

The  first  tavern  was  kept  by  Reuben  Searles,  on 
Lockerby's  stand. 

George  Goodhue  built  a  saw-mill  there  as  early  as 
1793. 

The  first  generation  of  settlcis,  as  we  are  informed, 
has  become  extinct.    Messrs.  William  Wombaugh, 


said 


79 

William  B.  Jones,  John  and  Stephen  Towsley,  and 
Rer.  Tarathmel  Powers,  tiiough  early  settlers,  came 
in  a  few  years  after  the  first  settlement.  i 

The  pioneers  of  the  town  of  Cameron  were  Joseph 
Warren,  John  Helmer,  Samuel  Baker,  and  Andrew 
Helmer. 

This  meagre  notice  of  the  settlement  of  the  valley 
helow  the  present  town  of  Canisteo  is  the  most  com- 
plete that  could  he  obtained  from  the  best  authorities 
to  whom  the  writer  was  referred. 


THE    SETTLEMENT    OF   THE   TIOGA   VALLEY. 

'  The  first  settlements  in  the  Tioga  Valley  were  made 
just  over  the  Pennsylvania  line,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Lawrenceville.  Samuel  Baker,  afterwards  of  Plea- 
sant Valley,  in  this  county,  settled  upon  the  open  flat, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Cowenisque  Creek,  in  1787,  and 
not  long  afterwards  a  few  other  settlers,  the  Stones, 
the  Barneys  and  the  Daniels,  who  also  afterwards  re- 
moved to  Pleasant  Valley,  erected  cabins  in  the  wild 
grass  and  hazel  bushes  of  the  vicinity. 

Col.  Eleazer  Lindley,  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  and 
an  active  officer  of  the  ^^  Jersey  Blues "  during  the 
Revolutionary  War,  rode  through  the  Genesee  country 
previous  to  the  year  1790,  to  find  a  tract  of  land  where 
he  might  establish  himself,  and  gather  his  children 
around  him.  The  sickliness  of  the  regions  around  Se- 
neca and  Canandagua  Lakes  deterred  him  from  locat- 
ing his  township  in  the  rich  norths  *n  plains,  and  he 
purchased  township  number  one  vi  the  second  range. 


80 

a  rugged  and  most  unpromiBing  tract  for  agricultural 
purposes,  but  intersected  by  tbe  fine  valley  of  the  Tio- 
ga. The  healthy  hills,  the  pure  springs,  and  the  clear 
beautiful  river,  descending  from  the  ravines  of  the 
Alleganies,  promised,  if  not  wealth,  at  least  freedom 
from  those  fevers,  agues,  cramps  and  distempers,  which 
prostrated  the  frames  and  wrenched  the  joints  of  the 
unfortunate  settlers  in  the  northern  marches. 

In  the  spring  of  1790,  Col.  Lindley  started  from 
New  Jersey  with  a  colony  of  about  forty  persons,  who, 
with  their  goods,  were  transported  in  wagons  to  the 
•Susquehanna.  At  Wilkesbarre  the  families  and  bag- 
gage were  transferred  to  seven-ton  boats  and  poled  up 
the  river,  according  to  the  practice  of  emigrants  pene- 
trating Ontario  county  by  that  valley ;  while  the  horses 
and  cattle,  of  which  there  were  thirty  or  forty,  were 
driven  along  the  trails,  or  rude  roads,  on  the  bank. 
On  the  7  th  day  of  June,  1790,  the  colony  reached  the 
place  of  destination. 

Two  sons  of  Col.  Lindley,  Samuel  and  Eleazer,  and 
five  sons-in-law.  Dr.  Mulford,  Ebenezer  Backus,  Capt. 
John  Seely,  Dr.  Hopkins,  and  David  Payne,  started 
with  the  colony  from  New  Jersey.  Dr.  Hopkins  re- 
mained at  Tioga  Point  to  practice  his  profession.  The 
others  settled  near  Col.  Lindley. 

The  river-flats  were  "  open,"  and  overgrown  with 
strong  wild  grass  and  bushes.  Ploughs  were  made  by 
the  settlers  after  their  arrival,  and  as  soon  as  these 
were  finished,  the  fiats  were  immediately  broken,  as 
on  the  Canisteo,  with  four  oxen  to  each  plough.  The 
season  was  so  far  advanced,  that  the  crop  of  corn  was 


81 


I,  as 
The 

i  WM 


destroyed  by  frost,  but  a  great  harvest  of  buckwheat 
was  secured.  With  buckwheat,  milk  and  game,  life 
was  stayed  during  the  first  winter.  History,  looking 
sharply  into  the  dim  vale  of  ancient  Tioga,  smiles  to 
see  the  image  of  '^  Old  Pomp,"  a  negro  pounding  buck- 
wheat in  a  samp-mortar,  from  the  first  ice  in  Novem- 
ber till  the  breaking  up  of  the  rivers  in  March,  when 
canoes  can  find  a  passage  to  Shepard's  Mill,  on  the 
Susquehanna.  History  also,  in  this  connection,  will 
embrace  the  opportunity  to  rescue  Old  Pomp  from  ob- 
livion for  the  notable  exploit  of  killing  four  bucks  at  a 
shot,  and  has  the  pleasure,  therefore,  of  handing  the 
said  Pompey  down  to  future  generations  as  a  fit  sub- 
ject for  as  much  admiration  as  an  intelligent  and  pro- 
gressive race  may  think  due  to  the  man  who  laid  low, 
with  a  musket  at  one  shot,  four  fine  bucks,  as  they 
were  standing  in  the  water. 

Colonel  and  Mrs.  Lindley  were  members  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church,  at  Morristown,  in  New  Jersey. 
In  his  settlement  the  Sabbath  was  strictly  observed. 
Travelling  missionaries  were  always  welcomed,  and 
when  none  such  were  present,  the  settlers  were  collected 
to  hear  a  sermon  read  by  Col.  Lindley  himself.  In  1798, 
Col.  Lindley  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Legislature, 
and  while  attending  the  session  of  that  body  died  in 
New  York.  Numerous  descendants  of  Col.  L.  live  in 
the  neighborhood  settled  by  him.  His  son,  Hon.  Elea- 
zer  Lindley,  was,  for  sovi^ral  years,  a  Judge  of  the 
County  Court.    He  died  in  1825. 


ai*?J 


Ji»rre  >•'  H:o 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  GREAT  AIR  CASTLE — THE  CITY  BUILDERS — CAP- 
TAIN WILLIAMSON-— NORTHUMBERLAND  THE  GERMAN 
COLONY — THE  PASSAGE  OF  THE  GERMANS  THROUGH 
THE  WILDERNESS. 

While  our  foremost  pioneers  were  reaping  their 
first  harvests  in  the  valleys  of  the  Canisteo  and  Che- 
mung, great  schemes  were  on  foot  in  the  Capital  of  the 
British  Empire  for  the  invasion  of  the  Genesee  wilder- 
ness. An  oflScer  of  the  royal  army  had  conceived  a 
splendid  project  for  the  foundation  of  a  city  in  the 
midst  of  the  forest,  and,  sustained  by  men  of  wealth 
in  London,  was  about  to  penetrate  its  inmost  thickets 
to  raise  up  a  Babylon  amongst  the  habitations  of  the 
owl  and  the  dragon. 

The  first  purchasers  of  the  Indian  territory  between 
the  Genesee  River  and  Seneca  Lake  had  sold  an  im- 
mense estate  to  Robert  Mo*'ris,  the  merchant.  Morris 
had  offered  his  lands  for  sale  in  the  priiicipal  cities  of 
Europe.  The  representations  of  his  agents  gained 
much  attention  from  men  of  capital,  and  three  gentle- 
men of  London,  Sir  William  Pulteney,  John  Hornby, 
and  Patrick  Colquhoun,  purchased  that  noble  estate 
which  has  since  borne  the  name  of  the  English  Baronet. 
Their  agent.   Captain    Charles   Williamson,   visited 


Si] 
un| 
cl( 
ihi 


83 


America,  and  excited  by  the  reports  transmitted  by 
bim,  the  associates  indulged  in  brilliant  dreams  of  the 
destiny  of  the  wildernesi  which  had  fallen  into  their 
hands. 

It  was  plain  to  see  that  the  noblest  forest  of  the 
Six  Nations  was  soon  to  pass  from  the  hands  of  those 
unfortunate  tribes.  This  magnificent  woodland,  en- 
closed on  three  sides  by  Lakes  Erie  and  Ontario,  and 
that  chain  of  rivers  and  slender  lakes  which  divides 
oir  State  into  Central  and  Western  New  York,  was 
already  invaded  by  the  forerunners  of  civilization. 
Traders  had  established  themselves  on  the  great  trails. 
Explorers  had  marked  cascades  for  the  mill-wheel,  and 
council  groves  for  the  axe.  Tribe  after  tribe  had  first 
wavered  and  then  fallen  before  the  seductions  of  the 
merchant  and  the  commissioner,  and  it  was  easy  to  see, 
that  against  the  temptations  of  rifles  and  red  rags  and 
silver  dollars,  the  expostulations  of  the  native  orators, 
who  besought  the  clans  to  hold  forever  their  ancient 
inheritance,  would  be  powerless.  Uneasj  emigration 
was  already  pressing  the  borders  of  the  whole  western 
country,  and,  like  water  about  to  flood  the  land,  was 
leaking  through  the  barriers  of  the  wilderness  at  every 
crevice.  Wyoming  rifles  were  already  cracking  among 
the  hills  of  Canisteo.  New  England  axes  were  already 
ringing  in  the  woods  of  Onondiaga  and  Genesee,  and 
most  fatal  of  all  signs,  a  land-ogre  from  Massachusetts 
sat  in  his  den  at  Canadarque,  carving  the  princely  do- 
main of  the  Senecas  into  gores  and  townships,  while 
the  wild  men  could  but  stand  aside,  some  in  simple 


84 


\ 


wonder,  otbers  \rith  Roman  indignation,  to  see  the  par- 
tition of  their  inheritance. 

It  is  not  diflScult  to  see  vrhat  will  be  the  end  of  this, 
thought  the  British  castle  builders.  In  half  a  century 
the  wild  huntsmen  will  be  driven  to  the  solitudes  of  the 
Ohio.  This  wonderful  forest  will  have  fallen,  and 
men  of  Celtic  blood  and  Saxon  sinews  will  have  pos- 
sessed themselves  of  a  land  of  surpassing  richness.  A 
city  of  mills  will  stand  by  tlio  cataracts  of  Genesee. 
A  city  of  warehouses  at  the  foot  of  Lake  Erie  will  re- 
ceive at  her  docks  the  barges  of  traders  from  the  illim- 
itable western  wilderness.  Fields  of  fabulous  fertility 
will  bask  in  the  sunlight  where  now  the  whooping  pagan 
charges  the  bear  in  his  thicket.  Numberless  villages 
by  the  rivers  and  secluded  lakes  will  raise  their  steeples 
above  the  tree  tops,  while  immeasurable  farms  will 
stretch  from  the  shore  of  Ontario  to  the  abutment  of 
the  Alle^^anice),  and  even  thrust  their  meadows  far 
within  the  southern  ravines  and  hemlock  gorges  like 
tongues  of  the  sea  thrust  far  inland.  It  will  be  a  re- 
gion of  exceeding  beauty  and  of  unbounded  wealth. 

They  further  considered  the  avenues  by  which  this 
western  Canaan  might  communicate  with  the  world 
without,  and  through  which  her  products  might  pass  to 
the  sea-board.  The  maps  revealed  four  natural  ave- 
nues for  commerce.  One,  in  the  north,  led  to  New- 
foundland fogs  and  the  icebergs  of  Labrador.  The 
second,  opening  in  the  hills  of  Cattaraugus,  conducted 
to  Mississippi  marshes  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.*  The 
third  offered  itself  in  the  north-east,  where  by  tedious 
beating  and  portages,  one  might  get  into  the  Mohawk 


>  the  par- 
id  of  this, 
a  century 
des  of  the 
lleD,  and 
lavo  poa- 
ness.     A 
Genesee, 
le  will  re- 
the  illim- 
s  fertility 
ing  pagan 
s  villages 
ir  steeples 
[irms  will 
itmeut  of 
dows  far 
rges  like 
he  a  re- 
ealth. 
hich  this 
le  world 
t  pass  to 
iral  ave- 
0  New- 
The 
ndacted 
/   The 
tedious 
ohawk 


96 

and  float  slowly  down  to  New  York  Bay.     But  in  the 

south-west,  the  Susquehanna  thrust  a  branch  almost 

to  the  centre  of  the  Genesee  country — a  small  hut  nav- 

igahle  river,  the  beginning  of  swift  waters  which  might 

hear  ponderous  cargoes  in  five  days  to  the  head  of 

Chesapeake  Bay.     Men  of  judgment  and  experience, 

the  statesmen  and  commercial  prophets  of  the  time, 

pointed  to  this  river  as  the  destined  highway  of  the 

west.     According  to  the  best  of  human  calculation,  the 

products  of  the  Genesee,  instead  of  being  entrusted  to 

the  St.  Lawrence,  the  Mississippi,  or  the  perplexing 

channels  of  the  Oswego  and  Mohawk,  would  inevitably 

seek  this  convenient  valley,  to  be  stowed  in  the  rough 

river-craft,  which,  gliding  down  the  swift  waters  of  the 

Couhocton  and  Chemung,  might  enter  on  the  second 

day   the   Susquehanna,   and    riding  safely  over  the 

foaming  rapids,  plow  in  a  week,  the  tide  water  of  the 

ocean.     Furthermore,  if  in  the  course  of  centuries, 

civilized  men  penetrate  those  vast  and  wonderful  wilds 

beyond  the  lakes,  by  what  other  road  than  this,  is  the 

surplus  of  Michigan  and  the  north-west  to  reach  the 

Atlantic?     The  belief  was  not  without  foundation. 

Looking  at  the  maps,  even  at  this  day,  and  observing 

how  the  north-western  branch  of  the  Susquehanna 

penetrates  western  New  York,  it  would  seem  that  but 

for  the  disastrous  interference  of  the  Erie  canal  and 

the  unfortunate  invention  of  railroads,  the  Conhocton 

valley  might  have  been  the  highway  of  an  immense 

commerce,  and  the  roads  leading  to  the  port  at  the  head 

of  her  navigable  waters  might  have  been  trampled  by 

tremendous  caravans. 
9 


86 


The  imagination  of  the  castle-bnilders  was  fired  at 
this  prospect.     Such  a  flood,  they  argued,  like  the 
Abysinnian  waters  that  swell  the  Nile,  must  enrich  the 
valley  through  which  it  flows.     In  the  midst  of  this 
valley  must  be  a  city — Alcairo  of  the  West.     Thither 
will  all  people  flow.     Caravans  such  as  the  deserts 
have  never  seen,  will  meet  in  its  suburbs.     Its  market 
places  will  present  all  that  picturesque  variety  of  garb 
and  manner  which  interest  the  traveller  in  an  oriental 
sea-port.     There  will  be  seen  the  Canadian  and  his 
pony  from  the  beaver  dams  of  the  upper  province,  the 
Esquimaux  with  his  pack  of  furs  from  Labrador,  the 
buffalo-hunter  from  the  illimitable  plains  of  Illinois, 
the  warrior  from  Maumee,  and  the  trapper  from  the 
Grand  Sault,  while  merchants  from  the  old  Atlantic 
cities  will  throng  the  buzzing  bazaars,  and  the  European 
traveller  will  look  with  amazement  on  the  great  north- 
western caravan  as  it  rolls  Vike  an  annual  inundation 
through  the  city  gates.     The  river,  now  narrow,  crook- 
ed and  choked  with  flood-wood,  will  become,  by  an  art- 
ful distribution  of  the  mountain  waters,  a  deep  and 
safe  current,  and  will  bear  to  the  Susquehanna  arks 
and  rafts  in  number  like  the  galleys  of  Tyre  of  old. 
Warehouses  and  mills  will  stand  in  interminable  files 
upon  its  banks.     Steeples,  monuments,  pyramids,  and 
man  knows  not  what  beside,  will  rise  in  its    noble 
squares. 

This  w  as  the  vision  that  greeted  the  eyes  of  the  Bri- 
tish adventurers  ;  and  to  found  the  promised  metropolis 
their  agent,  a  Scotish  officer,  crossed  the  Atlantic  and 
went  up  into  the  wilderness  clothed  with  plenary  pow- 


87 

€rs,  and  with  unlimited  authority  over  the  Baronet's 
banker.  Castles  of  ivory  and  towers  of  glass  glimmer- 
ed in  his  eyes  far  away  among  tho  pines.  A  more 
brilliant  bubble  never  floated  in  the  sunshine.  A  more 
btupendous  air  castlo  never  shone  before  human  eyes. 
Would  the  glorious  bubble  submit  to  bo  anchored  to 
hills,  or  would  it  rise  like  a  balloon  and  float  away 
through  the  air  1  Could  the  grand  wavering  air  castle 
be  made  stone,  and  was  it  possible  to  change  the  va- 
pors, the  fogs,  the  moonshine,  the  red  clouds  and  rain- 
bows, out  of  which  such  atmospherical  structures  are 
made  into  brick  and  marble  1  If  any  man  was  fit  to 
attempt  such  a  chemical  exploit,  it  was  the  one  en- 
trusted by  the  associates  with  its  execution. 

Charles  Williamson,  the  first  agent  of  the  Pulteney 
Estate,  was  a  native  of  Scotland.  He  entered  the 
British  army  in  youth,  and  during  the  Revolutionary 
war  held  the  commission  of  Captain  in  the  twenty-fifth 
regiment  of  foot.  His  regiment  was  ordered  to  America, 
but  on  the  passage  Captain  Williamson  was  captured 
by  a  French  privateer.  He  remained  a  prisoner  at 
Boston  till  the  close  of  the  war.  On  his  return  to 
Europe,  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  most  distin- 
guished public  men  of  England,  and  was  often  consult- 
ed concerning  American  afiairs.  On  the  organization 
of  the  association  of  Sir  William  Pulteney  and  the 
others,  he  was  appointed  its  agent,  and  entered  zeal- 
ously into  the  schemes  for  colonizing  the  Genesee 
Forest.  Captain  Williamson  was  a  man  of  talent, 
hope,  energy  and  versatility,  generous  and  brave  of 
spirit,  swift  and  impetuous  in  action,  of  questionable 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


1.1 


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Sciences 

Corporalion 


23  WBT  MAIN  STMIT 

WEBSTIII,N.Y.  145M 

(716)«72-4S03 


discretion  in  business,  a  lover  of  sport  iind  eiciteta^hty 
and  well  calculated  by  his  temperament  and  genius  to 
lead  the  proposed  enterprise.  His  spirit  was  so  tern- 
pered  with  imagination,  that  he  went  up  to  the  wilder- 
ness, not  with  the  dry  and  dogged  resolution  of  one  ex- 
pecting a  labor  of  a  lifetime  in  subduing  the  savage 
soil,  but  in  a  kind  of  chivalrous  dashing  style,  to  head 
an  onslaught  amongst  the  pines,  and  to  live  a  Baron 
of  the  Backwoods  in  his  Conhocton  Castle,  ruling  over 
forests  and  rivers,  after  the  manner  of  the  old  Norman 
nobles  in  England. 

Having  landed  in  Baltimore  in  1791,  and  taken  th& 
steps  required  by  our  naturalization  laws,  he  received 
in  his  own  name,  from  Robert  Morris,  a  conveyance  of 
the  Pulteney  estate,  and  begun  immediately  his  prepar- 
ations for  the  colonization  of  the  estate.  Of  these  pre- 
liminary movements,  there  is  but  little  to  be  said.  It 
appears  that  he  corresponded  extensively  with  men 
whom  he  sought  to  engage  in  his  enterprise,  that  he 
opened  communication  with  many  planters  of  Virginia 
and  Maryland,  proposing  a  transfer  of  themselves  and 
their  households  from  the  worn-out  plantations  of  the 
South,  to  the  fresh  woods  of  the  Genesee ;  that  he 
travelled  much  through  the  country  and  made  active 
exertions  by  personal  application  and  by  advertisement 
to  induce  farmers  and  emigrants  of  the  better  sort  from 
Great  Britain  to  settle  upon  his  Northern  lands. 

He  established  his  centre  of  organization  and  corres- 
pondence at  the  village  of  Northumberland,  situated 
on  the  Susquehanna,  at  the  mouth  of  the  West  Branch 
of  that  river,  then  a  place  of  much  consequence,  anol 


89 


one  which  at  this  day,  though  somewhat  decayed,  retains 
an  ancient  and  old  fashioned  respectahility  of  appearance 
not  to  he  seen  in  the  dashing  young  town  of  New  York,, 
west  of  the  Mohawk.  To  this  old  town  we  owe  at  least 
civility.  For  a  time,  during  the  infancy  of  Our  county, 
it  was  one  great  reliance  against  staryation  and  naked- 
ness. It  supplied  us  with  flour  when  we  had  no  grain, 
with  pork  when  we  had  no  meat,  with  clothes  when  we 
were  unclad,  with  shoes  when  we  were  unshod.  It 
sent  us  our  mails,  it  fitted  out  caravans  of  emigrants, 
it  received  with  hearty  cheer  our  gentlemen  when 
weary  of  riding  over  the  desolate  Lycoming  road. 
Many  impudent  villages  of  the  north,  which  now  like 
high-headed  youngsters  keep  their  fast  telegraphs, 
smoke  anthracite  coal,  and  drive  their  two-minute 
locomotives,  as  if  they  inherited  estates  from  their  an- 
cestors, were,  if  the  truth  must  he  told,  once  shahby 
and  famished  settlements,  and  when  faint  and  perish- 
ing were  saved  from  actual  starvation  by  this  portly 
old  Susquehanna  farmer,  who  sent  out  his  hired  men 
with  baskets  of  corn,  and  huge  shoulders  of  pork, 
with  orders  to  see  to  it  that  not  a  squatter  went 
hungry.  By  extraordinary  good  luck  these  lean 
squatters  became  suddenly  rich,  and  now  arrayed  in 
very  flashy  style,  with  Gothic  steeples  and  Moorish 
pavilions,  and  all  such  trumpery,  driving  their  fine 
chariots,  and  smoking  their  sheet-iron  funnels,  they 
laugh  most  impertinently,  and  we  may  say  ungratefully 
at  the  old  Quaker  who  had  compassion  on  them,  when 
they  lay  starving  in  the  underbrush.     These  things, 

let  the  lumberman  remember,  when  from  his  raft  ho 
9* 


90 

sees  the  white  steeple  of  -  Northumberland  relieved 
against  the  dark  precipice  beyond ;  the  west  branch 
meanwhile  pouring  its  flood  into  the  lordly  Susquehanna, 
and  renowned  Shemokinn  Dam,  the  Charybdis  of  pilots, 
roaring  below. 

In  the  winter  after  his  arrival  in  America,  Captain 
Williamson  made  a  visit  to  the  Genesee  by  way  of 
Albany  and  the  Mohawk.     In  the  upper  valley  of  the 
Mohawk  he  passed  the  last  of  the  old  settlements. 
From  these  old  German  farms  the  road  was  but  a  lane 
opened  in  the  woods,  passable  only  on  horseback,  or  in 
a  sledge.     A  few  cabins,  surrounded  by  scanty  clear- 
ings, were  the  only  indications  of  civilization  which  met 
his  eye,  till  he  stood  amongst  a  group  of  cabins  at  the 
foot  of  Seneca  .Lake.     The  famed  Genesee  estate  was 
before  him.     Surely  few  city  builders  of  ancient  or 
modern  times  have  gazed  upon  districts  which  offered 
less  encouragement  to  them  than  did  the  wild  Iroquois 
forest  to  the  hopeful  Scot.     A  little  settlement  had 
been  commenced  at  Canandaigua.     The  Wadsworths 
were  at  Big  Tree.     The  disciples  of  Jemima  Wilkin- 
son, the  prophetess,  had  established  their  new  Jerusa- 
lem on  the  outlet  of  Crooked  Lake,  and,  scattered 
through  the  vast  woods,  a  few  hundred  pioneers  were 
driving  their  axes  to  the  hearts  of  the  tall  trees,  and 
waging  war  with  the  wolves  and  panthers.     Beyond 
the  meadows  of  the  Genesee  Flats  was  a  forest  as  yet 
unknown  to  the  axe,  which  harbored  tribes  of  savages 
wavering  betwixt  war  and  peace.     British  garrisons, 
surly  from  discomfiture,  occupied  the  forts  at  Oswego 
and  Niagara;  colonies  of  Tories,  including  in  their 


k  4  A  j*t ,  .  * 


.(-,-„.. 


numbers  men  of  infamous  renown,  dwelt  bii  the  frontiers 
of  Canada,  on  lands  allotted  to  them  by  the  crown, 
and  there  were  not  wanting  those  amongst  the  military 
and  political  agents  of  the  provincial  government  who 
incited  the  jealous  barbarians  to  the  general  slaughter 
of  the  backwoodsmen. 

Wilderness  upon  wilderness  was  before  him.  Wil- 
derness surrounded  the  white  ice-bound  lakes  above 
Erie,  and  spread  over  plains  and  mountains  to  the 
fabulous  prairies  of  which  the  Indians  told  tales  too 
wonderful  for  belief.  The  British  troops  and  a  few 
French  settlers  near  Detroit,  with  a  few  traders  and 
agents  amongst  the  Ohio  tribes,  were  the  only  civilized 
occupants  of  the  far  west.  In  the  southern  districts 
of  the  estate  there  were  small  settlements  on  the 
Chemung  and  the  Canisteo,  accessible  only  from  below 
by  the  rivers.  There  were  settlements  on  the  upper 
Susquehanna  and  at  Tioga  Point. 

In  the  following  summer  Captain  Williamson  de- 
termined to  open  a  high  road  from  Northumberland  to 
the  Genesee.  The  only  road  leading  to  the  north  from 
the  mouth  of  the  West  Branch  followed  the  valley  of 
the  Susquehanna,  which  at  this  point,  to  one  going 
above,  begins  a  long  and  unnecessary  ramble  to  the 
east.  A  direct  road  to  the  Genesee  would  cross  a 
ridge  of  the  Alleganies.  An  Indian  trail,  often  trod 
during  the  Revolution  by  parties  from  the  fastnesses 
of  the  Six  Nations,  ran  over  the  mountains  ;  but  to  open 
a  road  through  the  shattered  wilderness,  which  would 
be  passable  for  wagons,  was  deemed  impossible*  After 
a  laborious  exploration,  however,  by  the  agent  and  a 


party  of  Pennsylvanian  Hunters,  a  road  was  located 
from  "  Ross  Farm"  (now  Williamsport)  to  the  mouth 
of  Canascraga  Creek,  on  the  Genesee,  a  distance  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  This  road  was  opened 
in  the  ensuing  autumn  by  a  party  of  German 
emigrants* 

The  fortunes  of  this  German  colony  formed  quite  a 
perplexing  episode  in  Captain  Williamson's  history. 
"  The  time  when  Ben  Patterson  brought  the  Germans 
through"  is  yet  remembered  by  a  few  of  our  aged 
citizens.  The  simplicity,  the  sufferings  and  the  terrors 
of  these  Teutonic  pioneers  were  sources  of  much  amuse- 
ment to  the  rough  backwoodsmen,  and  their  passage 
through  the  wilderness  and  over  the  wild  Laurel  Moun- 
tains, was  in  early  times  an  event  so  momentous,  that 
although  the  matter  has  strictly  but  little  reference  to 
the  history  of  this  county,  it  may  nevertheless  be  per- 
mitted to  recount  their  frights  and  tribulations. 

It  seems  that  Mr.  Colquhoun,  who  conducted  the 
business  affairs  of  the  Association,  became  acquainted 
in  London  with  a  certain  Dr.  Berezy,  a  German  of  edu- 
cation and  address,  who  engaged  to  collect  a  colony  of 
his  countrymen,  and  conduct  them  to  the  Genesee 
lands  under  the  auspices  of  the  associates.  Captain 
Williamson  seems  not  to  have  favored  the  scheme,  but 
while  living  at  Northumberland  in  1792,  the  colony 
arrived,  and  it  fell  upon  him  to  devise  some  plan  of 
disposing  of  this  very  raw  material  to  the  best  advan- 
tage. There  were  about  two  hundred  of  them,  men 
women  and  children.  Though  stout  and  healthy 
enough,  they  were  an  ignorant  and  inexperienced  peo- 


98 


pie,  accustomed  to  dig  with  the  spade  in  the  little  gar- 
dens of  the  Fatherland,  and  as  unfit  for  forest  work  and 
the  rough  life  of  the  frontiers  as  hahes.  Captain  Wil- 
liamson, with  his  high  and  hopeful  spirits,  did  not  lay 
the  matter  deeply  at  heart,  hut  encouraged  the  honest 
folk,  and  filled  their  heads  with  fine  tales,  till  they 
saw  almost  as  many  halloons  hanging  afar  off  over  the 
wilderness  as  the  enthusiastic  Briton  himself  heheld. 

It  was  determined  to  send  them  over  the  mountains 
to  the  Tioga,  thence  hy  the  valleys  of  that  river  and 
of  the  Conhocton,  to  Williamshurgh,  on  the  Genesee. 
It  was  necessary  to  give  the  emigrants  in  charge  to 
some  reliahle  and  energetic  guide,  who  would  see  to  it 
that  they  did  not  fall  into  the  rivers,  or  hreak  their 
necks  over  the  rocks,  or  he  crushed  hy  falling  trees,  or 
he  devoured  of  hears,  or  frightened  out  of  their  wits 
hy  owls  and  huzzards.  Benjamin  Patterson,  the  hun- 
ter, who  was  well  acquainted  with  the  German  lan- 
guage, and  in  whose  judgment  and  resolution  Captain 
Williamson  had  entire  confidence,  was  employed  in 
this  capacity.  He  was  abundantly  provided  with 
money  and  means.  Seven  stout  young  Pennsylvanians, 
well  skilled  in  the  use  of  the  axe  and  the  rifle,  were 
chosen  by  him  as  assistant  woodsmen,  and  these  and 
the  Germans  were  to  open  the  road,  while  the  guide, 
in  addition  to  his  duties  as  commander  of  the  column, 
undertook  to  supply  the  camp  with  game. 

It  was  in  the  month  of  September  when  the  emi- 
grants appeared  at  the  mouth  of  Lycoming  Creeks 
ready  for  the  march  to  the  Northern  Paradise.  The 
figure  of  the  Guide,  girt  for  the  wilderness,  with  his 


94 

hunting  shirt,  belt,  knife  and  tomahawk,  appeared  to 
the  simple  Germans  rather  an  odd  one  for  a  shepherd 
who  was  to  lead  them  over  Delectable  Mountains  to 
meadows  and  pleasant  brooks.  It  seemed  rather  like 
the  figure  of  some  hard-headed  Mr.  Great- Heart, 
arrayed  with  a  view  to  such  bruises  as  one  must  expect 
in  a  jaunt  through  the  land  of  Giant  Grim  and  other 
unamiable  aborigines;  and  when  the  seven  stalwart 
young  frontiersmen  stood  forth,  girt  in  like  manner, 
for  warfare  or  the  wilderness,  visions  of  cannibals  and 
cougars,  of  bears  and  alligators,  of  the  bellowing 
unicorn  and  the  snorting  hippopotamus,  were  vividly 
paraded  before  the  eyes  of  the  startled  pilgrims. 

A  little  way  up  the  creek  they  commenced  hewing 
the  road.  Here  the  Germans  took  their  first  lessons 
in  wood-craft.  They  were  not  ready  apprentices,  and 
never  carried  the  art  to  great  perfection.  We  hear  of 
them  in  after  years  sawing  trees  down.*  The  heavy 
frontier  axe,  (nine-pounder  often,)  was  to  them  a  very 
grievous  thing.  They  became  weary  and  lame ;  the 
discomforts  of  the  woods  were  beyond  endurance,  and 
their  complaints  grew  longer  and  more  doleful  at  each 
sunset.  But  in  a  few  weeks  they  found  themselves 
deep  in  the  wilderness.  The  roaring  of  torrents,  the 
murmur  of  huge  trees,  the  echoes  of  the  glens,  the 
precipices,  at  the  feet  of  which  ran  the  creeks,  the 
forests  waving  on  the  mountains,  and  crowding  the 
ravines  like  armies,  were  sounds  and  sights  unknovvn 

*  "  An  old  gentleman,  who  came  over  the  road  in  an  early  day, 
says  the  trees  looked  as  if  they  had  been  gnawed  down  by  beayer."— > 


» 


fc  J-     itf  a-f^r 


95 

to  the  pleasant  plains  of  Germany.     When  it  was 
night,  and  the  awful  howling  of  tho  wolves  all  around 
soared  the  children,  or  when  the  crash  of  great  trees, 
overturned  by  the  high  and  whirling  winds  of  autumn, 
woke  the  wives  from  dreams  of  home,  or  when  the 
alarmed  men,  aroused  in  the  mid- watches  by  strange 
uproars,  looked  out  into  the  darkness  to  see  enormous 
black  clouds'' sailing  over  head,  and  the  obscure  cliffs 
looming  around,  while  goblins  squeaked  and  whistled 
in  the  air,  and  kicked  the  tents  over,  then  they  all 
gave  way  to  dismal  lamentations.     The  equinoctial 
storms  came  on  in  due  time,  and  it  was  sufficiently  dis- 
heartening to  see  the  dreary  rains  pour  down  hour 
after  hour,  while  the  gorges  were  filled  with  fog,  and 
vapours  steamed  up  from  the  swollen  torrents,  and 
the  mountains  disguised  themselves  in  masks  of  mist, 
or  seemed,  like  Laplanders,  to  muffle  themselves  kx  huge 
hairy  clouds,  and  to  pull  fur-caps  over  their  faces. 
No  retreat  could  be  hoped  for.    Behind  them  were  the 
clamorous  creeks  which  they  had  forded,  and  which, 
like  anacondas,  would  have  swallowed  the  whole  colony 
but  for  the  Guide,  who  was  wiser  than  ten  serpents, 
and  outwitted  them:  behind  them  were  bears,  were 
owls  exceeding  cruel,  were  wild  men  and  giants,  which 
were  only  held  in  check  by  the  hunter's  rifle.     The 
Guide  was  merciless.    The  tall  Pennsylvanians  hewed 
the  trees,  and  roared  out  all  manner  of  boisterous 
jokes,  as  if  it  were  as  pleasant  a  thing  to  flounder 
through  the  wilderness  as  to  sit  smoking  in  the  quiet 
orchards  of  the  Rhine. 
They  arrived  at  the  Laurel  Ridge  of  the  AUeganies, 


i 


-which  divided  the  Lycoming  from  the  head  waters  of 
the  Tioga.  Over  this^  a  distance  of  fifteen  miles,  the 
road  was  to  be  opened — no  great  matter  in  itself, 
surely,  but  it  could  hardly  have  been  a  more  serious 
thing  to  the  emigrants  had  they  been  required  to  make 
a  turnpike  over  Chimborazo.  When,  therefore,  they 
toiled  over  these  long  hills,  sometimes  looking  off 
into  deep  gulfs,  sometimes  descending  ^ito  wild  hol- 
lows, sometimes  filing  along  tho  edges  of  precipices, 
their  sufferings  were  indescribable.  The  Guide  was  in 
his  element.  He  scoured  the  ravines,  clambered  over 
the  rocks,  and  ever  and  anon  the  Germans,  from  the 
tops  of  the  hills,  heard  the  crack  of  his  rifle  in  groves 
far  below,  where  the  elk  was  browsing,  or  where  the 
painted  catamount,  with  her  whelps,  lurked  in  the  tree 
tops.  Not  for  wild  beasts  alone  did  the  hunter's  eye 
search.  He  could  mark  with  pleasure  valleys  and 
mill  streams,  and  ridges  of  timber :  he  could  watch  the 
labors  of  those  invisible  artists  of  autumn,  which  came 
down  in  the  October  nights  and  decorated  the  forests 
with  their  frosty  bushes,  so  that  the  morning  sun  found 
the  valleys  arrayed  in  all  the  glory  of  Solomon,  and 
the  dark  robe  of  laurels  that  covered  the  ranges, 
spotted  with  many  colors,  wherever  a  beech,  or  a  ma- 
ple, or  an  oak  thrust  its  solitary  head  through  the 
crowded  evergreens :  he  could  smile  to  see  how  the 
*^  little  people"  that  came  through  the  air  from  the 
North  Pole  were  pinching  the  butternuts  that  hung 
over  the  creeks,  and  the  walnuts  which  the  squirrels 
spared,  and  how  the  brisk  and  impertinent  agents  of 
that  huge  monopoly,  the  Great  Northern  Ice  Associa- 


97 


tioD)  came  down  with  their  coopers  and  headed  up  the 
pools  in  the  forest,  and  nailed  bright  hoops  around  the 
rims  of  the  mountain  ponds.     The  Indian  Summer,  so 
brief  and  beautiful,  set  in — doubly  beautiful  there  in 
the  hills.    But  the  poor  emigrants  were  too  disconsolate 
to  observe  how  the  thin  haze  blurred  the  rolling  ranges, 
and  the  quiet  mist  rested  upon  the  many-colored  val- 
leys, or  to  listen  to  the  strange  silence  of  mountains 
and  forests,  broken  only  by  the  splashing  of  creeks  far 
down  on  the  rooky  floors  of  the  ravines.    Certain  birds 
of  omen  became  very  obstreperous,  and  the  clamors  of 
these  were  perhaps  the  only  phenomena  of  the  season 
noticed  by  the  pilgrims.  Quails  whistled,  crows  cawed, 
jays  scolded,  and  those  seedy  buccaneers,  the  hawks, 
sailed  over  head,  screaming  in  the  most  piratical  man- 
ner—omens all  of  starvation  and  death.    Starvation, 
however,  was  not  to  be  dreaded  immediately ;  for  the 
hunter,  roving  like  a  hound  from  hill  to  hill,  supplied 
the  camp  abundantly  with  game. 

The  men  wept,  and  cursed  Captain  Williamson  bit- 
terly, saying  that  he  had  sent  them  there  to  die.  They 
became  mutinous.  *^  I  could  compare  my  situation," 
said  the  Guide,  *'  to  nothing  but  that  of  Moses  with 
the  children  of  Isi  .lel.  I  would  march  them  along  a 
few  miles,  and  then  they  would  rise  up  and  rebeU' 
Mutiny  efifected  as  little  with  the  inflexible  commander 
as  grief.  He  cheered  up  the  downhearted  and  fright- 
ened the  mutinous.  They  had  fairly  to  be  driven. 
Once,  when  some  of  the  men  were  very  clamorous,  and 
even  offered  violence,  Patterson  stood  with  his  back 
to  a  tree,  and  brandishing  his  tomahawk  furiously,  said 


98 


"  If  you  resist  me,  I  will  KILL  you — every  one  of 
you."    1'hereupon  discipline  was  restored.  '^ 

They  worked  along  slowly  enough.  At  favorable 
places  for  encampment  they  built  block-houses,  or 
PlockSf  as  the  Germans  called  them,  and  opened  the 
road  for  some  distance  in  advance  before  moving  the 
families  further.  These  block -houses  stood  for  many 
years  landmarks  in  the  wilderness.  September  and 
October  passed,  and  it  was  far  in  November  before 
they  completed  the  passage  of  the  mountains.  The 
frosts  were  keen ;  the  northwesters  whirled  around 
the  hills,  and  blustered  through  the  valleys  alarmingly. 
Then  a  new  disaster  befell  them.  To  sit  of  evenings 
around  the  fire  smoking,  and  drinking  of  coffee,  and 
talking  of  the  Fatherland,  had  been  a  great  comfort  in 
the  midst  of  their  sorrows  ;  but  at  length  the  supply 
of  coffee  was  exhausted.  The  distress  was  wild  at  this 
calamity.  Even  the  men  went  about  wailing  and  ex- 
claimed, '^  Ach  Kaffee  !  Kaffee  !  mein  lieber  Kaffee  !" 
(Oh  !  Coffee  !  Coffee  !  my  dear  Coffee  !)  How- 
ever no  loss  of  life  followed  the  sudden  failure  of  Cof- 
fee, and  the  column  toiled  onwards. 

At  the  place  now  occupied  by  the  village  of  Bloss- 
burgh,  they  made  a  camp,  which,  from  their  baker 
who  there  built  an  oven,  they  called  "  Peter's  Camp." 
Paterson,  while  hunting  in  this  neighborhood,  found  a 
few  pieces  of  coal  which  he  cut  from  the  ground  with 
bis  tomahawk.  The  Germans  pronounced  it  to  be  of 
good  quality.  A  half  century  from  that  day,  the  hill 
which  the  guide  smote  with  his  hatchet,  was  **  punched 
full  of  holes,"  miners  were  tearing  out  its  jewels  with 


"^Pr 


pt 


■i 


"      99 

pickaxes  and  gunpowder,  and  locomotives  were  carying 
them  northward  by  tons. 

Pushing  onward  seven  miles  further  they  made  the 
*^  Canoe  Camp,"  a  few  miles  below  the  present  village 
of  Mansfield.  When  they  reached  this  place,  their 
supply  of  provisions  was  exhausted.  The  West  Branch 
youths  cleared  two  acres  of  ground  ;  Patterson  killed 
an  abundant  supply  of  game,  and  went  down  with  some 
of  his  young  men  to  Painted  Post,  thirty  miles  or 
more  below.  He  ordered  provisions  to  be  boated  up 
to  this  place  from  Tioga  Point,  and  returned  to  the 
camp  with  several  canoes.*  He  found  his  poor  peo« 
pie  in  utter  despair.  They  lay  in  their  tents  bewail- 
ing their  misfortunes,  and  said  that  the  finglishman 
had  sent  them  there  to  die.  He  had  sent  a  ship  to 
Hamburgh,  he  had  enticed  them  ^om  their  homes,  he 
had  brought  them  over  the  ocean  on  purpose  that  he 
might  send  them  out  into  the  wilderness  to  starve. 
They  refused  to  stir,  and  begged  Patterson  to  let  them 
die.  But  he  was  even  yet  merciless.  He  blustered 
about  without  ceremony,  cut  down  the  tent-pole  with 
his  tomahawk,  roused  the  dying  to  life,  and  at  length 
drove  the  whole  colony  to  the  river  bank. 

Worse  and  worse !  When  the  Germans  saw  the 
slender  canoes,  they  screamed  with  terror,  and  loudly 
refused  to  entrust  themselves  to  such  shells.  The 
woodsmen,  however,  put  the  women,  the  children  and 

*  Some  of  tlie  canoes  were  made  at  the  camp  and  some  were 
pushed  up  from  Painted  Post.  Capi  Charles  "Wolcott,  now  resid- 
ing near  Coming,  went  up  with  a  canoe  and  brought  down  twenty- 
four  Germans.      f.Ki}  iit\^  -t^        [  ;.. 


100 


the  sick,  into  the  canoes  almost  by  main  force,  and 
launched  forth  into  the  river,  while  the  men  followed  by 
land.  Patterson  told  them  to  keep  the  Indian  trails 
but  bs  this  sometimes  went  back  into  the  hills,  and  out 
of  sight  of  the  river,  they  dared  not  follow  it  for  fear 
of  being  lost.  So  they  scrambled  along  the  shore  as 
best  they  could,  keeping  their  eyes  fixed  on  the  flotilla 
as  if  their  lives  depended  upon  it.  They  tumbled  over 
the  banks ;  they  tripped  up  over  the  roots ;  where  the 
shores  were  rocky,  they  waded  in  the  cold  water  be- 
low. But  the  canoes  gliding  merrily  downward  wheel- 
ed at  last  into  the  Chemung,  and  the  men  also,  accom- 
pPshing  their  tedious  travels  along  the  shore,  emerged 
from  the  wilderness,  and  beheld  with  joy  the  little 
cabins  clustered  around  the  Painted  Post. 

Here  their  troubles  ended.  Flour  and  coffee,  from 
Tioga  Point,  were  waiting  for  them,  and  when  Peter 
the  Baker  turned  out  warm  loaves  from  his  oven,  and 
der  lieber  Kaffee  steamed  from  the  kettles  with  grateful 
fragrance,  men  and  women  crowded  around  the  guide, 
hailed  him  as  their  deliverer  from  wild  beasts  and  pe- 
rilous forests,  and  begged  his  pardon  for  their  bad 
behaviour. 

It  was  now  December.  They  had  been  three  months 
in  the  wilderness,  and  were  not  in  a  condition  to  move 
onward  to  the  Genesee.  Patterson,  with  thirty  of  the 
most  hardy  men,  kept  on,  however,  and  opened  the 
road  up  the  Conhocton  to  Danville  and  the  place  of 
destination.  The  others  remained  through  the  winter 
of  1793  at  Painted  Post.  ^^  They  were  the  simplest 
creatures  I  ever  saw,"  said  an  old  lady  ;  "  they  had 


I 


101 


a  cow  with  them)  and  they  loved  it  as  if  it  was  a  child. 
When  flour  was  scarcest,  they  used  to  feed  her  with 
bread*"  ■'    s*it'i"irt<»ffiiftT+  MfsirnoffT  •'jim^':  ' 

The  whole  colony  was  conducted  to  the  Genesee  in 
the  spring.  There  was,  at  this  time,  a  single  settler 
in  the  valley  of  the  Conhocton,  above  the  settlements 
near  Painted  Post.  The  fate  of  the  first  potato  crop 
of  the  Upper  Conhocton  is  worthy  of  record.  This 
settler  had  cultivated  a  little  patch  of  potatoes  in  the 
previous  summer,  and  of  the  fruits  of  his  labor  a  few 
pecks  yet  remained,  buried  in  a  hole.  The  Germans 
snuffed  the  precious  vegetables  and  determined  to  have 
them.  Finding  that  they  could  be  no  more  restrained 
from  the  plunder  of  the  potato  hole  than  Indians  from 
massacre,  Patterson  told  them  to  go  on,  and  if  the 
owner  swore  at  them  to  say,  '^  thank'ee,  thank^ee,^'  as 
if  receiving  a  present.  This  they  did,  and  the  settler 
lost  hib  treasures  to  the  last  potato.  The  Guide  paid 
him  five  times  their  value,  and  bade  him  go  to  Tioga 
Point  for  seed. 

Once  they  came  unexpectedly  upon  a  single  Indian, 
in  the  woods,  boiling  a  mess  of  succotash  in  a  little 
kettle  ;  and  so  intent  was  he  upon  his  cookery  that  he 
did  not  observe  the  approach  of  the  emigrants.  "  Isf 
das  ein  wilder  mann  .^"  (is  this  a  wild  man?)  said  the 
Germans,  (it  was  the  first  savage  they  had  seen,)  and 
crowded  around  him  with  eager  curiosity.  He  did  not 
once  look  up — perhaps  for  a  display  of  Indian  impert- 
urbability ;  but  Patterson  said  that  the  poor  barbarian 
was  so  frightened  at  finding  himself  suddenly  surrounds 


10^ 


JA*»riw»t.'^    ^    Tr«^»'i»H    A 


j**»4*-i.    Si    i "■■?%* -i'l*.*.^ 


m 


102 


ed  by  a  crowd  of  strangers,  '^  jabbering  Datch,''  that 
he  dared  not  lift  his  eyes. 

After  manifold  tribulations,  the  Germans  were  at 
last  deposited  at  the  Genesee,  with  the  loss  of  bat  one 
man,  who  was  killed  in  the  mountains  by  a  falling  tree. 
The  subsequent  fortunes  of  this  ill-starred  colony  can 
be  told  in  few  words.* 

At  Williamsburgh,  they  were  abundantly  provided 
for.  Each  family  received  a  house  and  fifty  acres  of 
land,  with  a  stock  of  provisions  for  present  use,  and 
household  and  farming  utensils.  Cattle  and  sheep 
were  distributed  amongst  them,  and  nothing  remained 
for  them  to  do  but  to  fall  to  work  and  cultivate  their 
farms.  Hardly  a  settlement  in  Western  New  York 
had  such  a  munificent  endowment  as  the  German  set- 
tlement on  the  Genesee.  But  it  soon  became  apparent 
that  the  leader  of  the  colony  had  failed  to  regard  the 
instructions  of  Mr.  Colquhoun.  Instead  of  recruiting 
his  numbers  from  the  sturdy  and  industrious  Saxon 
population,  as  directed,  he  had  collected  an  indiscrim- 
inate rabble  from  the  streets  of  Hamburgh,  not  a  few 
of  whom  were  vagabonds  of  the  first  water.  They 
were  lazy,  shiftless,  and  of  the  most  appalling  stupi- 
dity. Breeding  cattle  were  barbacued.  Seeds,  instead 
of  being  planted  in  their  fields,  vanished  in  their  ket- 
tles ;  and  when  provisions  were  exhausted.  Captain 
Williamson  was  called  upon  to  despatch  a  file  of  pack- 
horses  to  their  relief.  The  emigrants  were  greatly 
disappointed  in  the  land  which  received  them,  and  com- 
plained with  bitterness  of  the  treachery  that  enticed 
*  Turner's  Hist,  of  Phelps  &  Gorham's  Purchase. 


108 

them  from  the  blessed  gutters  of  Hamburgh,  first  to 
starve  in  frightful  mountains,  and  then  to  toil  in  hungry 
forests. 

At  length  they  broke  out  into  open  and  outrageous 
rebellion.  Captain  Williamson,  tvho  was  on  the  ground, 
was  assailed  by  Berezy  and  the  rabble,  and  as  he  him- 
self says,  '^  nothing  could  equal  my  situation  but  some 
of  the  Parisian  scenes.  For  an  hour  and  a  half  I  was 
in  this  situation,  (in  a  corner  of  a  store,  between  two 
writing  desks,)  every  instuit  expecting  to  be  torn  to 
pieces."  However,  with  the  assistance  of  a  few  friends 
he  kept  the  mob  at  bay,  till  Berezy  at  length  quelled 
the  tumult.  The  colonists  then  drove  away  or  killed 
all  the  cattle  on  the  premises,  and  held  a  grand  ca- 
rousal. The  mutiny  lasted  several  days,  till  the  Sheriff 
of  Ontario  mustered  a  posse  of  sufficient  strength,  and 
descended  upon  them  by  forced  marches,  and  made 
prisoner  the  ringleader.  Berezy,  in  the  meantime,  had 
gone  to  the  East,  where  he  made  arrangements  for  the 
removal  of  his  colonists  to  Canada.  This  transfer  was 
at  last  effected,  greatly  to  the  relief  of  the  London  As- 
sociation and  their  agent,  to  whom  the  colony  had  been, 
from  the  beginning,  nothing  but  a  source  of  expense 
and  vexation. 


'V  t  i    ^JA-     1.'    »*!(    V"    »/,••*:? -M;if  .'-.  **'    :*^*'i     -  "  .-■    '  t  '  :  it  ^\Ji      -J31 


f 

■n^iit 

•.i5«ln«*  f^"  l.r 

59 

■,Am^*  ■■ 

*% 

CHAPTER  V. 

h^m 

THE   SETTLEMENTS   OP  BATH — GEN.   M*CLURe's 
NARRATIVE. 


■» 


m 


Hating  conducted  his  Germans,  at  last,  through  the 
wilderness,  and  deposited  them  in  a  Canaan  where  the 
copper-colored  Amalekites,  and  Jebusites,  and  Hiv- 
ites,  had  consented  to  an  extinguishment  of  title,  and 
were  behaving  themselves  with  marled  civility,  al- 
though a  few  battalions  of  discomfited  Philistians  hov- 
ered sulkily  on  the  Canadian  frontiers  and  glowered 
from  the  bastions  of  Niagara  and  Oswego.**  Captain 
Williamson  prepared  to  go  up  to  the  forest  in  person 
and  lay  the  foundation  of  a  new  Babylon  on  the  banks 
of  the  Conhocton.  The  enemies  of  the  gallant  Cap- 
tain have  intimated  that  instead  of  making  the  illus- 
trious city  of  the  Euphrates  his  model,  he  studied  to 
attain  the  virtues  of  Sodom  and  the  graces  of  GU)mor- 
rah,  which  will  be  shown  to  be  a  malicious  slander. 

Sixteen  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  Conhocton, 
the  valley  of  the  Crooked  Lake,  uniting  nearly  at  right 
angles  with  the  river  valley,  opens  in  the  hills  a  deep 
and  beautiful  basin,  which  presents,  when  viewed 
from  an  elevation,  'a  rim  of  ten  or  fifteen  miles  in  cir- 

*  The  Britieh  did  not  evacuate  those  posts  till  1796. 


105 


cnit*  The  British  officer,  standing  on  the  almost  per- 
pendicular, yet  densely  wooded  heights  ahore  the  river, 
south  of  the  old  church  of  Bath  (handsomely  called  in 
an  early  Gazetteer,  "  a  tremendous  anc(  dismal  hill,") 
looked  down  upon  a  valley  covered  with  a  pine  forest, 
except  where  the  alluvial  flats,  close  at  the  foot  of  the 
dark  hemlocks  of  the  southern  range,  supported  their 
nohle  groves  of  elm  and  sycamore,  and  where  a  little 
round  lake  shone  in  the  sunlight  helow  the  eastern 
heights.  A  ring  of  ahrupt  highlands,  unbroken  as  it 
seemed,  except  by  a  blue  gorge  in  the  North — the 
gateway  of  the  gulf  of  Crooked  Lake— imprisoned  the# 
valley,  and  these  surrounding  bills,  to  which  several 
hundred  additional  feet  of  altitude  were  given  by  the 
view  from  the  southern  wall,  rose  sometimes  to  the 
dignity  of  mountains.  The  prospect  is  wonderfully 
beautiful  at  the  present  day,  from  that  place,  where 
to  view  his  valley  ^e  Scottish  Captain  may  have  (at 
any  rate,  ought  to  have)  lain  a  bed  of  moss  above  tho 
rocks,  which  just  at  the  summit  jut  over  the  tops  of 
the  huge  rough  trees  that  cling  to  the  side  of  the  hill 
even  to  the  foot  of  the  precipice  which  surmounts  it. 
But  wilder  and  more  beautiful  was  the  picture  spread 
out  before  the  Captain's  eye.  Description  would  re- 
call the  scene  but  feebly.  Let  each  patriotic  citizen, 
however,  imagine  as  he  can  how  all  the  ranges  and 
ridges,  the  knobs  and  promontories,  were  covered  with 
the  richness  of  the  forest,  and  consider  that  pleasant 
little  lake  just  below  the  rising  sun,  how  it  glittered 
among  the  deep-green  pines,  and  the  little  river  also ; 
how  it  wrangled  with  the  huge  sycamores  that  lay 


106 


across  its  channel  like  drunken  giants,  and  how  it  was 
distressed  with  enormous,  frightful  roots  which  clung' 
to  its  breast  with  their  long  claws  like  nightmares,  but 
<;ame  forth,  nevertheless,  from  these  tribulations  with 
a  bright  face,  and  sparkled  delightfully  among  the 
■elms  and  willows.  ^iiia  mis,  aT>fi  f> 

In  this  valley  the  gallant  city-builder  determined  to 
found  his  metropolis.  Here  should  all  the  caravans 
0S  the  West  meet ;  here  should  rise  mills  and  stupen- 
■dous  granaries ;  here  should  stand  the  Tyre  of  the 
West,  sending  forth  yearly  fleets  of  arks,  more  in  num- 
«.ber  than  the  galleys  of  the  ancient  city,  to  make  glad 
the  waters  of  Chesapeake.  Whatever  fallacy  in  his 
Political  Economy  may  have  enticed  the  Scot  hither, 
there  is  certainly  no  place  where  the  Demon  of  Busi- 
ness, had  he  seen  fit  to  build  him  a  den  in  these  re- 
gions, could  have  been  more  pleasantly  situated,  if 
such  a  consideration  were  worthy  of  the  notice  of  his 
dusty  and  bustling  genius.  To  the  propitiation  of  this 
Divinity,  the  wealth  of  the  Pulteneys  and  the  labors  of 
their  minister  were  devoted  for  the  next  two  years. 
Every  device  that  ingenuity  could  suggest,  every  force 
that  fortune  could  employ,  every  experiment  that  en- 
ergy dared  attempt,  were  tried  by  the  bold  and  efficient 
Cadmus  of  the  Conhocton  to  divest  the  commerce  of 
the  West  from  the  Mohawk  and  the  Hudson,  and  to 
^ide  it  down  the  Northwestern  Branch  of  the  Susque- 
hanna. 

Western  commerce  has  unfortunately  leaked 
through  another  tunnel.  The  Demon  which  we 
worshipped,    seemed,    for    a    time,    about    to  yield 


107 


,.£:.<« 


V 


to  our  entreaties,  and  snufied  the  incense  that  smoked 
on  our  altar  mth.  every  appearance  of  satisfaction. 
As  a  wary  bear  walks  seven  times  around  the  trap  with 
suspicious  eyes,  hesitating  to  bite  the  tempting  bait, 
yet  is  sometimes  on  the  point  of  thrusting  his  nose, 
at  a  venture,  within  the  dangerous  jaws  of  steel,  but 
finally  turns  away  with  a  growl,  so  this  wary  Caliban, 
after  long  debating  with  himself,  at  last  refused  to  set 
foot  on  the  pretty  trap  of  Captain  Williamson,  and 
dug  himself  dens  in  the  north  where  he  might  wallow 
in  the  mire  of  canals  and  marshes,  and  duck  his  head 
in  the  Genesee  cataract.  The  political  economist, 
looking  at  this  day  from  the  Rollway  Hills,  beholds  a 
melancholy  spectacle.  Below  him  is  a  valley  of  farms 
on  which  a  single  column  of  the  primitive  pines  re- 
main like  that  square  of  the  Old  Guard  which  stood 
for  a  moment  after  the  route  at  Waterloo.  A  dark 
and  almost  unbroken  forest  covers  the  hill  sides,  and 
he  looks  down  upon  the  streets  and  steeples  of  an  idle 
and  shady  shire  town,  surrounded  by  pastures  or  mea- 
dows and  groves,  which  has  nothing  to  do  but  to  enter- 
tain the  county's  rogues  and  to  supply  the  citizens 
with  law  and  merchandise.  Neither  the  whistle  of  the 
locomotive  nor  the  horn  of  the  canal  pilot  is  heard 
there;  the  wolf  has  hardly  deserted  its  environs — 
hounds  yet  follow  the  deer  in  the  woods  around  it — 
logs  are  yet  tumbled  down  the  roUways  above  it.  No 
warehouses  line  the  river  banks — no  long  ranks  of 
grist-mills  grumble  that  deep  harmony  so  charming  to 
our  ears.  The  gallant  Captain's  city  somehow  failed 
to  become  a  city.    The  .wealth  that  was  of  right  ours 


! 


108 


took  to  itself  wings  and  flew  to  the  east.  Albany  and 
New  York,  being  stout  and  remorseless  robbers,  plun- 
dered us  by  force.  Syracuse  and  Utica,  being  no 
older  than  we,  stole  our  riches  secretly,  thieves  that 
they  are — (thieves  from  infancy  and  by  instinct,  for 
they  stole  their  very  names  from  a  couple  of  decrepit 
and  toothless  old  cities  of  the  other  hemisphere,  as 
some  young  vagabonds  have  just  conscience  enough  to 
pick  the  pockets  of  blind  beggars  in  the  street) — and 
to  this  day  those  cities  stand  in  the  face  of  all  the 
world  bedecked  with  their  ill-got  finery.  The  beauti- 
ful air-castle  which  shone  before  the  eyes  of  the  Ba- 
ronet, after  promising  a  great  many  times  to  become 
marble,  at  last  bade  defiance  to  chemistry,  rolled  itself 
up  into  a  shapeless  fog,  and  returned  to  the  oxygen 
from  which  it  came.  This  is  no  secret,  and  to  have 
reserved  the  announcement  of  it  till  in  the  regular 
course  of  this  history  it  was  due  would  have  been  un- 
necessary. No  body  for  whom  the  story  is  told  would 
have  been  in  suspense — ^no  body  would  have  been 
stunned  had  the  fact  been  reserved  as  a  kind  of  perc 
rating  thunder-bolt.  It  ?)^  so  well  known  to  our  citi- 
zens generally  that  their  shire  town  is  a  very  imperfect 
type  of  any  of  those  ancient  cities  heretofore  alluded 
to,  and  a  very  modest  rival  of  those  overgrown  and 
raw-boned  young  giants  suckled  by  the  Demon,  our 
enemy  aforementioned,  along  the  lakes  and  canals,  that 
one  without  miraculous  ingenuity  will  despair  of  work- 
ing up  its  downfall  into  any  kind  of  historical  clap- 
trap, to  astound  or  terrify.  The  plot  for  the  subver- 
sion of  fte  city  of  New  York  failed — failed  so  utterly 


,'i>' 


109 

-      ..      -  .    .  .     ,  f  .» 

that  l>ut  comparatively  few  living  men  know  that  it 
was  ever  dreamed  of.    Sixty  years  after  the  Scottish 
Captain  looked  down  with  great  hopes  upon  the  valley 
of  his  choice,  a  Senator  of  the  United  States,  address- 
ing the  Legislature  of  this  State,  guests  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  in  one  of  the  great  hotels  of  that  metropo- 
lis, told  them  of  a  traveller's  prediction  at  the  begin- 
ning of  this  century,  that  the  valley  of  the  Conhocton 
would  contain  the  great  commercial  city  of  the  west.* 
The  announcement  was  received  with  laughter  by  all, 
and  with  astonishment  by  many.     The  laughter  of  the 
Legislature  of  1851  was  fortunately  a  thing  which  sel- 
dom occasioned  distress  to  the  object  of  it,  and  the 
citizens  of  Steuben  County  were  not  in  consequence  so 
benumbed  as  to  make  it  necessary  for  them  to  discon- 
tinue for  a  time  their  ordinary  avocations, 
f  Founders  of  cities  should  always  look  out  for  omens, 
and  of  all  ominous  creatures  they  should  especially 
keep  a  sharp  look-out  for  snakes,  which  are  above  all 
things  prized  by  soothsayers.     If  it  be  true  that  there 
is  more  in  serpents  than  is  ^^  dreamed  of  in  our  philo- 
sophy," Capt.  Williamson  was  favored  with  omens  to 
a  degree  unusual  even  with  founders  of  cities.    The 
Pine  Plains,  (as  the  valley  of  Bath  was  afterwards 
known,)  were  infested  with  multitudes  of  rattlesnakes. 
Probably  there  was  at  that  time  no  district  in  the 
Western  country  where  these  dragons  met  with  greater 
toleration.    But,  in  truth,  toleration  had  little  to  do 
with  the  matter.    They  had  taken  possession  of  the 


*See  Ohap.  9,  for  the  Speech  of  Mr.  Senator  Seward. 
11 


110 


Tallej,  and  held  it  by  tooth  and  nail.     In  length,  cir- 
cumference, ugliness  and  vrisdom,  it  is  safe  to  say  that 
the  rattlesnakes  of  the  Pine  Plains  challenged  compe- 
tition.   There  was  no  one  to  bruise  their  heads  but  the 
occasional  Indian,  and  their  hideous  tribes  increased 
and  multiplied  to  a  degree  truly  discouraging  to  mice 
and  moles.     From  the  little  fiery  serpent  with  ne'er  a 
rattle  in  his  tail,  up  to  the  monstrous  black  and  deadly 
sluggard,  coiled  under  the  bush  and  ringing  alarms 
with  his  twenty  rattles,  the  whole  plain  was  given  up 
to  them.    When  Patterson,  the  hunter,  first  visited 
this  Paradise,  he  was  startled  at  their  multitude. 
Gliding  from  bush  to  bush,  slipping  under  logs,  re- 
treating with  angry  colors  before  his  path, — now  coiled 
up  under  a  tree,  when  hard  pressed,  and  wagging  their 
heads  in  defiance,  now  rattling  a  tail  full  of  warning^ 
beneath  the  shrubs,  this  snakish  populace  inspired  the 
hunter  with  dread.    Fairly  afraid  to  go  farther  by  land, 
he  took  the  river  and  waded  three  or  four  miles,  till  he 
believed  himself  fully  beyond  the  boundaries  of  this 
habitation  of  dragons.     Tradition  says,  that  when  the 
plot  of  the  village  of  Bath  was  surveyed,  the  number 
of  rattlesnakes  killed  by  the  surveyors  passed  account. 
Tradition,  however,  has  failed  to  preserve  details,  and 
many  rare  "  snake-stories"  are  probably  lost  for  ev^r. 
These  rattlesnakes  have  eluded  extermination  like  the 
Seminoles.    Driven  from  the  plains  they  betook  them- 
selves to  the  mountains,  like  the  illustrious  persecuted 
in  all  ages.    The  steep,  bold  and  sandy  mountain, 
from  the  summit  of  which  the  rising  summer  sun  fii*st 
shines,  is  the  last  retreat  of  these  once  numerous  tribes. 

Jjill  ' '      ■  '     ■.  ■  -       '   '-^^^ 

n 


Ill 


^1^ 


Here  a  few  wise  veterans  yet  hide  in  the  rocks,  and 
raise  infant  families  under  circumstances  of  great  dis- 
couragement. :  ;  T 
In  1798  Col.  Williamson  commenced  the  settlement 
of  his  village,  called  Bath,  from  Lady  Bath  of  England, 
a  member  of  the  Pulteney  family.  "  Before  the  end 
of  the  season,"  he  says,  ^^  not  less  than  fifteen  fami- 
lies were  resident  in  the  village.  Early  in  the  season 
a  saw-mill  had  been  finished,  and  previous  to  the  set- 
ting in  of  the  winter  a  grist-mill  with  a  saw-mill  nearer 
the  town  were  in  great  forwardness."  The  first  men- 
tioned saw-mill  stood  on  or  near  the  site  of  the  ^^  Glass-, 
mill,"  on  the  Kennedyville  road.  The  grist-mill  stood 
near  the  bridge.  On  New  Year's  Day  of  1794,  a  few 
months  after  the  settlement,  Mr.  Harry  McElwee,  a 
young  man  from  the  north  of  Ireland,  made  his  entry 
into  the  new-made  village,  and  gives  his  first  impres- 
sion substantially  as  follows : — "  I  found  a  few  shan- 
ties standing  in  the  woods.  Williamson  had  his  house 
where  Will  Woods  has  since  lived,  and  the  Metcalfes 
kept  a  log-tavern  above  the  Presbyterian  Church.  I 
went  to  the  tavern  and  asked  for  supper  and  lodging. 
They  said  they  could  give  me  neither,  for  their  house 
was  full.  I  could  get  nothing  to  eat.  An  old  Dutch- 
man was  sitting  there,  and  he  said  to  me :  *  Young 
man  if  you  will  go  with  me  you  shall  have  some  mush 
and  milk  for  your  supper,  and  a  deer-skin  to  lie  on 
with  your  feet  to  the  fire,  and  another  to  cover  your- 
self with.^  I  told  him  that  I  thanked  him  kindly,  and 
would  go  along.  We  went  up  through  the  woods  to 
where  St.  Patrick's  square  now  is,  and  there  the 


112 


Dutchman  had  a  little  log-house.  There  was  no  floor 
to  it.  I  made  a  supper  of  mush  and  milk,  and  laid 
down  with  my  feet  to  the  fire  and  slept  soundly.  The 
Dutchman  was  travelling  through  to  the  Genesee,  but 
his  children  were  taken  sick  and  ho  stopped  there  till 
they  got  well."  Mr.  McElwee,  now  residing  on  the 
Mud  Creek,  is  the  sole  survivor  of  the  young  men 
who  were  with  Capt.  Williamson  in  the  first  years  of 
the  settlement,  now  living  in  the  town  of  Bath.  Mr. 
Thomas  Metcalfe,  of  Ellicotville,  and  Charles  Came- 
ron, Esq.,  of  Greene,  with  perhaps  a  few  others,  sur- 
vive of  the  "  stout  lads  "  who  came  up  with  their 
Captain  in  ^94. 

The  trees  had,  at  this  time,  been  cut  away  only  to 
admit  of  the  erection  of  cabins  for  the  accommodation 
of  the  few  citizens,  and  to  open  a  road  through  the  for- 
est. In  the  spring  of  1794  Mr.  McElwee,  under  the 
direction  of  Captain  Williamson,  made  the  first  clear- 
ings, being  the  Pulteney  Square  and  four  acres  behind 
the  agent's  house  for  a  garden,  for  the  cultivation  of 
which  he  afterwards  imported  a  gardener  from  Eng- 
land. The  trees  on  the  square  were  chopped  carefully 
and  close  to  the  ground.  A  single  pine  was  left  stand- 
ing in  front  of  the  agency  house  for  a  Liberty  Tree. 
It  was  trimmed  so  as  to  leave  a  tuft  at  the  top,  and 
stood  nodding  defiance  at  despotism  for  several  years, 
when  it  was  blown  down  in  a  storm.  The  chopper  of 
the  Pulteney  Square  denies  the  popular  tradition,  that 
to  get  rid  of  the  stumps  they  were  undermined  and 
buried.  Many  strange  expedients  were  resorted  to  in 
those  days  by  persons  not  trained  frotn  their  infancy 


on 


118 

to  urooa  craft,  to  free  the  eartn  from  the  pitoh-pine 
stumps  and  the  oak  stools  \7hlch  seemed  to  he  more 
enduring  than  *^  hrass  and  pyramids,"  hut  the  tradi- 
tion of  the  preposterous  hurial,  just  alluded  to,  is 
without  foundation. 

For  notices  of  early  citizens,  and  the  early  opera- 
tions of  Capt.  Williamson,  we  refer  to  the  following 
narrative : 

NARRATIVE,    BY    GEN.    GEORGE    M^CLURE,  LATE   OF 
ELGIN,  ILLINOIS.  -'".:-H  fWi^i  tiit 

"ist  Oili  lo  r^jili  f'  -His  rmii^  ^ny;  ;••(■.  )..n.     .  i  •A^i\}A 

Some  sixty  years  sinee  Western  New  York  was  ft 
howling  wilderness,  inhabited  by  Indians  and  wild 

— 

[Note. — ^Tho  following  reminiBcences  were  prepared  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1860,  at  tiie  request  of  the  publishers,  by  Oen.  McOlure,  who 
resided  at  that  time  in  Elgin,  Illinois,  at  the  age  of  80  years,  and 
were  submitted  by  him,  with  unlimited  license  to  alter  and  amend. 
They  might  perhaps  be  disposed  more  advantageously  to  the  order 
of  history  if  .broken  up  and  used  in  extracts  as  occasion  required, 
but  the  narrative  Will  probably  be  more  acceptable  as  here  presented 
than  in  any  other  shape.  A  few  extracts  have  been  inserted  in 
other  places.  With  Uiese  exceptions  the  narrative  is  almost  un' 
altered.  Qen.  McClure  is  necessarily  the  hero  of  his  own  story,  an^ 
in  his  private  instructions  to  the  publishers  desired  it  to  be  so  altered 
that  every  appearance  of  sounding  his  own  trumpet  might  be 
avoided.  The  editor  was  unwilling  to  make  any  changes  except  in 
a  few  passages  which  have  been  condensed.  The  language  is  fre«h 
and  graphic,  and  the  narrative  giyes  a  lively  picture  of  the  early 
business  of  the  county.  Passages,  declaratory  of  Gen.  M.'s  opinions 
on  politics,  it  was  deemed  absolutely '  indispensable  to  omit.  It  is 
proper,  hW-efe^,  to  say  that  he  avowed  himself  to  be  a  staundi 
free-Boileir,  a  radical  temperance  mKn^'and  a  firm  believer  in  the  fu- 
ture gliQiT'  of  the  United  States.  These  reminiscencjos  are  giv^ 
from  memory.  Oen.  M.  lost  his  papers  by  fire.] 
11* 


114 


in 

«1 


beasts.  Where  the  City  of  Utica  now  stands  was  con- 
sidered in  those  days  the  extreme  western  frontier ; 
all  west  of  that  place  had  been  but  partially  explored 
by  civilized  man.  It  was  considered  imprudent  and 
dangerous  to  attempt  a  journey  into  thaj;  wild  region. 
"  After  Oliver  Phelps  had  purchased  of  Massachusetts 
the  pre-emptive  right  to  a  large  tract  of  land  in  West- 
ern New  York,  he  made  preparations  to  visit  and  ex- 
plore that  wild  region ;  his  neighbors  called  upon  him 
to  take  a  last  farewell,  as  they  n^ve^  expected  to  see 
his  face  again."  ^^^  .wf>T'' 

Much  has  been  written,  since  those,  days  of  the  far 
famed  west.  *  *  *  »  But  it  may  now  be  asked 
what  has  become  of  it.  Has  it  eloped  or  absconded 
like  the  wandering  savage  tribes  that  once  possessed 
that  goodly  land  1  Yes,  truly  it  is  gone,  and  now  like 
the  Children  of  Israel  of  old,  it  has  reached  the  pro- 
mised land,  not  a  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey 
only,  but  also  with  gold,  silver,  and  precious  stones. 
The  great  Pacific  Ocean  is  its  boundary.  Here  I  take 
my  leave  of  the  Far  West,  and  return  to  old  Steuben, 
to  give  some  account  of  the  hardy  and  enterprising  pio- 
neers who  were  the  first  settlers  in  that  wild  and  un- 
cultivated region,  f  1  .  .. 
,:  Rev.  James  H.  Hotchkin  in  his  ^*  History  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Western  New  York,"  makes 
some  severe  strictures  on  the  character  of  Capt.  Wil- 
liamson and  his  settlers.  He  says,  "  They  were  prin- 
cipally from  Europe  or  tl^e  States  of  Maryland  and 
Virginia,  with  a  sprinkling  of  Yankees^  who  came  to 
make  money."  ^*  The  state  of  society  "  he  remarks. 


r..Ta 


n 


115 


'^  was  very  dissolute.    The  Sabbath  was  disregarded. 
Drinking,  gambling,  carousing,  horse-racing,  attending 
ihe  theatre,  with  other  concomitant  vices  were  very 
general,  and  numbers  of  those  who  moved  in  the  high 
circle  were  exceedingly  depraved."     I  do  not  know 
from  what  source  such  information  was  obtained ;  but 
this  I  know,  that  the  Sabbath  was  not  desecrated  ii^  the 
village  of  Bath  in  the  manner  that  he  represents.    We 
had  but  two  public  houses  in  that  village  for  many 
years.     One  was  kept  by  the  Metcalfe  family,  and  the 
other  by  old  Mr.  Cruger,  and  after  him  by  Mr.  Bull. 
Neither  of  these  houses  suffered  gambling  and  carous- 
ing on  the  Sabbath.     Nor  did  I  ever  hear  of  a  horse- 
race on  the  Sabbath  in  Bath,  nor  of  theatrical  amuse- 
ments on  that  day.     There  were  not  more  than  four  or 
five  families  from  Maryland  and  Virginia  that  settled 
in  Bath  ;*  the  other  part  of  our  population  were  at 
least  one  half  Yanke6is,  and  the  other  half  foreigners  and 
Pennsylvanians.     Now  I  would  say  that  instead  of  a 
"  sprinkling  of  Yankees ^^^  we  had  a  heavy  shower  Of 
them.     I  do  not  believe,  however,  that  they  were  a  fair 
sample  of  the  sons  of  the  Pilgrims,  for  a  good  many  of 
them,  to  say  the  least,  were  no  better  than  they  should 
be.     I  trust  that  nothing  in  my  remarks  will  be  con- 
sidered invidious.     I  do  not  intimate  by  any  means 
that  Rev.  Mr.  Hotchkin  would  knowingly  state  an  un- 
truth, but  that  he  has  not  been  correctly  informed  in 


_u_ 


*  Major  Presley  Thornton,  who  was  the  first  occupant  of  the 
great  Springfield  ffoiue,  a  mile  and  a  half  below  Bath,  and  Capt 
William  Helen,  two  Virginians,  were  ihe  principal  Southern  men 
who  located  at  Bath.  ,..1.1       i>.  -a. 


U.l 


.Liki  ylfli/tjD  fi)HflJ»tH  &iit  t*. 


•f~>i{iij?t  ilJOV 


wi',   ,' 


|i     I 


116 


.^lirrlniftif)  Y't'»v 


relation  to  the  character  of  a  large  proportion  of  the 
early  settlers.  I  admit  that  many  were  very  loose  in 
their  morals,  "  lovers  of  pleasure,  more  than  lovers  of 
God."  In  the  year  1807,  wc  employed  the  Rev.  John 
Niles  to  preach  for  us  Iialf  his  time,  and  the  other  half 
in  Prattsburgh.  I  believe  he  was  a  good  man,  but  not 
well  qualified  to  reform  so  dissolute  and  heathenish  a 
body  of  men  as  composed  Capt.  Williamson's  first  set-? 
tiers  (according  to  the  popular  account  of  us). 

,  Among  the  number  of  the  most;  respectable  Scotch 
emigrants  Were  Charles  Cameron  and  Dugald,  his  bror 
ther.  These  two  young  men  were  first-rate  specimens 
of  the, Scotch  character  for  intelligence  and  integrity, 
as  well  as«for  other  amiable  qualities.  Charles  Cam- 
eron was  a  merchant,  and  the  first  to  open  a  store  in 
Bath.  He  was  also  the  first  post-master  by  appoint- 
ment of  Capt.  Williamson,  who  paid  all  expenses  of 
transporting  the  mail  once  a  week  to  and  from  North- 
umberland.'"' Some  fifteen  or  twenty  years  after  he 
obtained  the  appointment  of  sub-ogent  of  the  Hornby 
estate  from  John  Greig,  Esq.,  of  Canandaigua,  the 
chief  agent.  Ho  moved  to  the  village  of  Greene,  in 
Chenango  County,  where  he  still  resides.  Few  men 
possessed  stronger  intellectual  powers  than  Dugald 
Cameron.  He  was  highly  respected  by  all  classes  of 
his  neighbors  and  acquaintances.  He  was  a  clerk  in 
the  Land  Office  for  some  time,  until  he  and  Gen. 

Haight  were  appointed  sub-agents  by  Col.   Troup. 

— '.  .1 .. — — —      I  I   .1 — _— . ■ 

*  An  iM  frenchman  lived  at  the  **  Blockhouse,"  on  Lnurel  Ridge, 
66  miles  distant  from  Bath.  Thomas  Corbit,  the  mail  rider  in  '94, 
went  thither  weekly  for  the  Steuben  County  bag. 


117 


in 


He  was  a  great  favorite  of  the  people  of  Steuben*  In 
1828  they  elected  him  as  their  representative  in  the 
Legislature  of  the  State,  which  appointment  with  some 
reluctance  he  accepted.  While  at  Albany  attending 
to  the  duties  of  his  station,  he  was  seized  with  a  violent 
complaint,  and  after  a  short  and  painful  struggle  de- 
parted this  life,  leaving  a  wife  and  a  numerous  family 
of  children,  most  of  whom  have  since  died.  His  death 
was  lamented  by  all  his  relations,  friends,  and  ac- 
quaintances. 

Andrew  Smith,  a  trustworthy  Scotchman,  had  the 
charge  of  the  farming  operations  of  Capt.  Williamson ; 
such  as  the  clearing  of  the  land  for  cultivation ;  and  all 
other  kinds  of  labor  were  committed  to  his  charge.  He 
had  generally  from  thirty  to  fifty  men,  and  some- 
times more,  in  his  employ,  and  I  had  nearly  as  many 
in  the  house-building  department.  Muckle  Andrew 
(as  we  called  him,  being  a  large  man,)  and  myself 
were  great  cronies.  We  were  both  single  men,  and 
kept  bachelors'  hall.  We  generally  met  on  Saturday 
evenings,  alternately,  in  each  others'  apartments.  We 
had,  in  those  days,  plenty  of  the  jo2{/t*/,but  we  seldom 
carried  matters  so  far  as  to  get  decently  tipsy.  We 
violated  no  pledge,  for  even  ministers  of  the  gospel 
and  deacons,  in  those  days,  kept  on  their  side-boards 
a  full  supply  of  the  best  Cogniac,  wine  and  old  whis- 
key ;  and  when  they  got  out  of  those  articles,  they 
would  make  very  decent  and  *  *  * 
*  *  *  But  I  must  return  for  a  moment  to 
my  good  friend  Muckle  Andrew,  and  relate  how  We 
used  to  spend  the  evenings  of  our  social  meetings* 


<«      >•<>     tU 


118 


fT 


The  first  topic  of  conversation  was  the  business  of  the 
past  week,  and  what  progress  we  had  made  in  our  re- 
spective vocations.  The  next  business  in  order  was  a 
drink,  then  a  story  or  a  song.  Andrew  told  the  sto- 
ries, and  I  did  the  singing.  My  songs  were  generally 
the  productions  of  Burns,  such  as,  "  Scots  wha  ha?  wV 
Wallace  hled,"*^  "  Who'll  he  king  but  Charlie,^^  and 
"  ^uld  Lang  Syne,''  The  last  verse  we  always  sung 
standing.  My  good  friend  Andrew  had  one  favorite 
standing  toast,  which  was  as  follows : 


"  Here's  to  mysel',  co'  a'  to  my  sel*, 
Wi'  a'  my  heart  here's  to  me ; 
Here's  to  mysel',  co'  a'  to  mysel', 
And  muckle  guid  may  it  do  me." 


There  were  a  number  of  respectable  young  men, 
natives  of  Scotland,  arrived  in  Bath  in  the  years  '93 
and  '94,  amongst  whom  was  Hector  McKenzie,  said 
io  be  the  son  of  a  Scotch  Laird,  who  was  employed  as 
a  Clerk  in  the  Land  Office.  Of  him  I  have  nothing 
tOr  say,  only  that  he  felt  himself  a  good  deal  taller  than 
other  young  men;  and  although  otherwise  respectable, 
I  discovered  that  he  did  not  possess  any  of  the  amia- 
ble qualities  of  his  countrymen,  the  Camerons,  and  not 
a' particle  of  the  courtesy  and  unassuming  manners  of 
his  employer,  Capt.  Williamson.*  ^^^  ^^ 

John  Greig,  Esq.,  (now  of  Canandaigua,  and  chief 
agent  of  the  Hornby  estate,)  arrived  about  the  same 
time,  a  young  man  of  fine  talents,  a  lawyer  by  profes- 
sion. He  did  not  make  Bath  his  place  of  permanent  resi- 

■■■    ■    I  ■    —  ■■*      ■,  II.       II  ^  .  ■  — ■■■^ — ._■  ■■  I  .11 1, 1,  ",t  ,n     ■■i.i.iMi         .1       i    ■ 

*He  died  in  the  West  Indies, 


^. 


hmi 


'93 


119 

dence,  but  he  often  paid  us  a  visit,  and  we  were  always 
glad  to  see  him,  and  never  allowed  him  to  depart  with- 
out having  a  real  jovial  old-fashioned  thanksgiving. 

Also,  about  this  time,  arrived  Robert  Campbell  and 
Daniel  McKenzie,  both  respectable  mechanics.  They 
have  both  lately  departed  this  life.  Mr.  Campbell, 
{though  one  of  Williamson'* s  first  settlers^  was  sober 
and  industrious,  and  a  worthy  member  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church.  There  was  also  old  Mr.  Mullender, 
with  a  very  interesting  family,  who  settled  on  a  farm 
of  Capt.  Williamson's,  near  Bath.  They  were  from 
Scotland,  and  removed  afterwards  to  the  Old  Indian 
Castle,  near  Geneva. 

I  must  now  take  leave  of  my  Scotch  friends,  while  I 
talk  a  little  about  my  own  dear  countrymen^  as  well 
as  of  some  of  the  sons  of  the  pilgrims. 

Henry  McElwee,  and  William,  his  brother,  Frank 
Scott,  Charles  McClure,  Gustavus  Gillespie,  and 
Brown,  his  brother,  Samuel  and  John  Metier,  with 
large  families  of  children — those,  with  many  others 
whose  names  I  do  not  now  recollect,  were  natives  of 
the  North  of  Ireland,  whose  ancestors  were  of  Scotch 
descent.  They  are  all  dead  and  gone  long  since,  with 
the  exception  of  Henry  McElwee,  who  is  yet  alive  and 
resides  on  his  farm  at  Mud  Creek.  He  was  an  honest, 
sober,  industrious,  hard-working  man,  and  had  the 
confidence  and  patronage  of  Capt.  Williamson.        >.^t 

William  Dunn,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  came  ta 
Bath  in  the  spring  of  1793,  and  kept  for  a  short  time 
a  house  of  entertainment.  He  was  appointed  High 
Sheriff  of  the  County  after  its  organization.    He  was 


hi 
f 


\\ 


120 

a  very  gentlemanly  man.  He  entered  largely  into 
land  speculation  without  capital,  and  like  many  others, 
his  visionary  prospects  soon  vanished,  and  wound  him 
up.  He  moved  to  Newtown,  where  he  shortly  after 
died.  Mr.  Dunn  had  two  brothers,  who  came  to  Bath 
with  him,  or  shortly  after :  Robert  and  Joseph.  The 
former  was  called  Col.  Dunn.  This  military  title  he 
obtained  on  his  way  from  York  County,  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, to  Bath.  He  was  one  of  a  company  of  adven- 
turers and  speculators,  who  agreed  that  they  should 
introduce  each  other  by  certain  assumed  titles.  Some 
Judges,  others  Generals,  Colonels,  Majors,  but  none 
below  the  grade  of  Captain.  This  Col.  Dunn  would 
pass  anywhere  as  a  gentleman  of  the  first  rank  jin 
society. 

Old  Mr.  Cruger  moved  from  Newtown  to  Bath,  and 
kept  the  house  lately  occupied  by  Wm.  Dunn,  on  the 
southeast  corner  of  the  public  square.  Mr.  Cruger,  I 
understood,  was  a  native  of  Denmark — a  very  pleasant 
man,  full  of  anecdote  and  mother  wit.  He  was  the 
father  of  Gen.  Daniel  Cruger.  Gen.  Cruger  was  a 
lawyer,  and  was  highly  respected  by  his  fellow-citizens. 
He  represented  the  people  of  Steuben  County  in  the 
State  legislature  several  years,  and  also  the  District  in 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  He  served  with 
me  in  Canada,  in  the  campaign  of  1813,  as  a  Major  of 
Infantry,  and  was  a  faithful  and  vigilant  officer.  Some 
years  since  he  removed  to  the  State  of  Virginia,  and 
died  there. 

**  But  I  am  violating  my  own  rule  in  spinning  out  such 
long  yarns.   My  locomotive  being  on  the  high  pressure 


1' 


121 

system,  I  find  it  difficult  to  arrest  its  progress.  When 
I  come  to  speak  of  the  trade  and  commerce  of  Mud 
Creek,  and  the  Conhocton  and  Canisteo  Rivers,  which 
then  wormed  their  way  over  sand-bars  and  piles  of 
drift-wood  into  the  Chemung  River,  I  shall  have  some- 
thing more  to  say  of  the  enterprise  Of  Mr.  Bartles,  and 
of  his  son  Jacob,  and  son-in-law,  Mr.  Harvey.        -  ~ 

The  town  of  Prattsburgh  was  settled  with  Yankees. 
They  were  truly  men  of  steady  habits  and  correct 
morals.  For  further  particulars  I  refer  the  reader  to 
Rev.  James  H.  Hotchkins'  book  in  relation  to  the  in- 
habitants of  that  town. 

I  have  said  nothing  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  of 
Wayne,  and,  with  a  few  exceptions,  would  beg  leave  to 
be  excused.  Dr.  Benjamin  Welles  moved  from  Kin- 
derhook,  N.  Y.,  to  that  town  in  1798,  if  I  am  cor- 
rectly informed.  He  had  a  numerous  family  of  children. 
Dr.  Welles  was  a  surgeon  in  the  army  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, and  part  of  the  time  belonged  to  Gen.  Washing- 
ton's staff.    He  died  in  1812. 

Gen.  William  Kernan,  an  Irishman  by  birth,  moved 
into  Steuben  I  think  about  the  year  1800,  and  settled 
in  the  town  of  Tyrone.  He  is  an  active  politician  of 
the  Democratic  party,  but  whether  he  is  Hunker  or 
Barnburner  I  am  not  able  to  say.  Gen.  Kernan  has 
been  a  popular  man  in  the  county,  and  the  people  have 
conferred  on  him  from  time  to  time  many  important 
offices.* 


*  Mr.  John  Faulkner,  of  the  eastern  part  of  the  ^tate,  settled  at 
an  early  day  in  Painted  Post,  where  he  died.    Dr.  James  Faulkner, 
his  son,  an  eminent  physician,  and  a  public  man  of  sagacity  and 
12 


122 


A  brief  sketch  of  my  own  history  will  doubtless  be 
expected.  From  the  consideration  that  I  have  been 
one  of  the  principal  actors  amongst  the  first  settlers 
in  Steuben  County^  and  that  I  have  undertaken  to  be 
the  biographer  of  other  men's  lives,  I  can  see  no  im- 
propriety in  giving  a  sketch  of  my  own.  I  approach 
the  subject  with  all  due  modesty,  divesting  myself  of 
anything  that  might  have  the  appearance  of  egotism  ; 
for  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  I  have  any  ambitious 
views  or  propensities  to  gratify,  either  politically  or 
otherwise,  at  my  advanced  time  of  life. 

I  was  bom  in  Ireland,  in  the  year  1770 ;  my  ances- 
tors emigrated  from  Scotland,  and  settled  not  far  from 
the  city  of  Londonderry.  They  belonged  to  a  religious 
sect  called  Covenanters,  who  for  conscience  sake  had 
to  fly  from  their  country  to  a  place  of  greater  safety, 
and  out  of  the  reach  of  their  cruel  and  bigoted  perse- 
cutors. I  was  kept  at  school  from  the  age  of  four 
years  to  fifteen.  The  character  and  qualifications  of 
those  Irish  pedagogues,  to  whom  the  education  of 
youth  was  then  committed,  is  not  generally  understood 
in  this  country.  They  were  cruel  and  tyrannical  in  the 
mode  and  manner  of  chastising  their  pupils.  Their 
jsavage  mode  of  punishment,  for  the  least  ofience,  was 
disgraceful.  .    » f .  4,  - '  ~t  '■      -^  -  '  -   " 

After  leaving  school,  I  chose  to  learn  the  trade  of  a 
carpenter,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty  I  resolved  to  come 

eccentricitj,  lived  at  Mud  Creek.  He  was  first  Judge  of  the  County 
Court,  from  1804  to  1818.  Mr.  John  Faulkner,  a  brother  of  Dr. 
Faulkner,  settled  on  a  farm  five  miles  north  of  the  village  of  Bath. 
Two  other  brothers,  Daniel  and  Samuel,  settled  at  Dansville. 


i  '. 


: 


128 


to  America.  I  therefore  embarked  on  board  the  ship 
Mary  of  Londonderry  for  Baltimore.  We  made  a 
quick  and  pleasant  voyage  of  five  weeks.  I  landed  in 
Baltimore  the  first  week  in  June,  in  good  health  and 
spirits.  The  whole  of  my  property  consisted  of  three 
suits  of  clothing,  three  dozen  of  linen  shirts,  and  a 
chest  of  tools.  As  soon  as  I  landed,  I  stepped  into  a 
new  building,  where  a  number  of  carpenters  were  at 
work,  and  inquired  for  the  master  builder.  I  asked 
him  if  he  wished  to  employ  a  journeyman.  He  said. 
that  he  did,  and  inquired  how  much  wages  I  asked. 
My  answer  was,  that  I  could  not  tell ;  that  I  knew 
•nothing  of  the  usages  of  the  country,  as  I  had  but  a 
few  minutes  before  landed  from  the  ship. 

"  Then,"  said  he,  '*  I  presume  your  are  an  Eng- 
lishman.'' 

"  Not  exactly,  sir,"  I  replied.  "  Although  I  have 
been  a  subject  of  King  George  the  Third,  of  England, 
my  place  of  nativity  was  Ireland,  but  I  am  of  Scotch 
descent." 

**Ah,  well,  no  matter.  Come  to-morrow  morning 
and  try  your  hand." 

I  did  so,  and  worked  for  him  two  months,  when  he 
paid  me  ^75.  Thinks  I  to  myself,  this  is  a  good 
beginning — better  than  to  have  remained  in  Ireland, 
and  worked  for  two  shillings  and  sixpence  per  day. 

I  then  determined  to  see  more  of  the  land  of  liberty ; 
for  at  this  time  I  had  never  travelled  beyond  the 
bounds  of  the  city.  I  had  some  relations  near  Cham- 
bersburgh,Pa.,  and  I  mads  preparations  to  visit  them. 
In  those  days  there  were  no  stages,  only  from  city  to 


124 

city  or.  the  sea-board.  All  the  trade  of  the  back- 
woods was  carried  on  by  pack-horses,  and  some  few 
wagons  where  roads  were  suitable.  I  was  advised  to 
purchase  and  rig  out  a  pack-horse,  but  as  to  do  this 
would  use  up  half  my  means,  I  concluded  to  be  my 
own  pack-horse,  and  set  out  on  foot  for  the  far  west, 
leaving  the  heaviest  part  of  my  goods  and  chattels  to 
be  forwarded  by  the  first  opportunity.  I  made  good 
headway  the  first  day,  but  I  had  put  on  too  much 
steam  and  became  foot-sore.  I  stopped  for  the  night 
at  the  house  of  a  wealthy  German  farmer,  who  had  a 
large  family  of  children,  males  and  females,  uiost  of 
them  grown  up.  Mine  host  and  his  good-looking  Frau 
could  not  speak  a  word  of  English.  He  was  very  in- 
quisitive, but  he  might  as  well  have  talked  Hindoo  to 
me  as  German,  as  I  could  answer  them  only  in  their 
own  way  by  a  kind  of  grunt  and  shake  of  the  head, 
which  meant  '^  I  can't  understand."  So  he  called  his 
son  Jacob  (who  had  been  to  an  English  school,  and 
could  talk  a  little  English,)  to  act  as  interpreter.  He 
told  his  son  to  ask  me  whence  I  came,  and  whether  or 
not  I  was  a  forfloughter  Irishman  (that  is,  in  plain 
English,  a  d— — d  Irishman.)  Thinks  I  this  is  a 
poser,  and  I  answered  judiciously,  and  I  think  cor- 
rectly, under  all  the  circumstances.  I  told  him  I  was 
a  Scotchman,  as  in  Ireland  all  Protestants  go  by  the 
name  of  Scotch  or  English,  as  the  case  may  be.  My 
Dutch  landsman  appeared  to  be  satisfied,  and  we  had 
a  very  social  chat  that  evening  to  a  late  hour.  The 
family  were  all  collected,  young  i^d  old,  to  hear  of  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  Scotch.    They  seemed  to 


i^ 


IS  a 


take  a  great  liking  to  me,  and  it  was  well  for  me  that 
I  had  become  quite  a  favorite,  for  my  feet  were  bo 
blistered  with  travelling  that  I  conld  not  move.  I  re-< 
mained  several  days  till  I  got  over  my  lameness. 
When  I  called  for  my  bill  I  was  told  that  all  was  freej 
and  was  invited  to  remain  a  few  days  longer.  I  set 
out  on  my  journey,  refreshed  and  encouraged  by  the 
hospitality  and  kindness  of  that  amiable  Dutch  family. 

In  three  days  thereafter  I  reached  Chambersburgh, 
which  is  one  hundred  miles  west  of  Baltimore.  I  re- 
mained there  until  the  spring  following,  when  I  dis- 
covered in  the  newspapers  an  advertisement,  signed  by 
Charles  Williamson,  offering  steady  employment  and 
high  wages  to  mechanics  and  laborers  who  would  agree 
to  go  with  him  to  the  Genesee  Country.  Thinks  I  this 
is  a  good  chance,  and  I  will  embrace  it.  I  set  out  im- 
mediately for  Northumberland,  the  head-quarters  of 
Mr.  Williamson.  On  my  arrival  there,  I  was  told 
that  Capt.  W.  had  started  with  a  numerous  company 
of  pioneers  to  open  a  road  through  the  wilderness  to 
his  place  of  destination — 140  miles.  * 

I  had  some  relations  and  other  particular  friends 

and  acquaintances  in  that  country.    An  uncle  of  mine, 

of  the  name  of  Moore,  who  came  with  his  family  from 

Ireland  in  the  year  1790,  had  settled  near  the  village 

of  Northumberland.    I  made  Uncle  Moore's  my  home 

until  I  heard  of  the  arrival  of  Capt.  Williamson  at 

Bath,  when  I  again  made  my  preparations  to  set  out 

for  the  land  of  promise,  accompanied  by  my  old  Uncle 

Moore,  a  man  who  had  never  travelled  more  than 

twenty  miles  from  his  old  homestead  in  all  his  life,  ez- 
12* 


126 

* 

oeptiDg  on  his  voyage  to  America.  I  told  him  that  if 
hifl  object  in  coming  to  this  country  was  to  purchase 
land  for  himself  and  his  sons,  he  ought,  without  delay, 
to  go  to  the  Genesee  country,  where  he  could  purchase 
first-rate  land  for  one  dollar  per  acre.  This  was  all 
true,  though  I  was  somewhat  selfish  in  making  the 
proposition,  as  I  did  not  like  to  travel  alone  through 
the  wilderness,  liable  to  be  devoured  by  panthers, 
bears  and  wolves ;  so  I  eventually  persuaded  the  old 
gentleman  to  accompany  me.  The  old  lady.  Aunt 
Moore,  packed  up  provision  enough  for  at  least  a  four 
weeks'  journey.  We  mounted  a  pair  of  good  horses 
and  set  out.  We  had  only  travelled  twenty  miles 
when  we  came  to  a  large  rapid  stream  or  creek,  which 
from  late  heavy  rains  was  bank  full.  Uncle  Moore 
concluded  to  retrace  his  steps  homeward.  I  told  him 
I  could  not  agree  to  that.  "  Why,  we  will  be  laughed 
at."  "  Well,"  said  he,  *'  they  may  laugh  if  they 
please,"  and  would  go  no  further. 

"  Very  well,"  said  I,  "  If  that's  your  determination, 
I  will  remain  here  until  the  water  falls — but  I  see  a 
house  close  by,  and  a  large  canoe,  (the  first  I  had  ever 
seen,)  let  us  go  and  inquiro  whether  it  would  be  safe 
to  swim  our  horses  alongside  of  it." 

We  were  told  there  was  no  danger,  and  two  men 
volunteered  to  put  us  over.  Uncle  Moore  proposed 
that  I  should  pass  over  first  with  my  horse,  and  if  I 
made  a  safe  voyage,  to  send  back  for  him.  We  landed 
in  safety.  I  got  the  old  gentleman  just  where  I 
wanted  him.  He  must  now  go  ahead,  as  his  retreat 
was  now  cut  off.    In  the  meantime  I  had  learned  that 


127 


i 


there  were  two  other  large  streams  ahead  of  us.  The 
first,  called  the  Loyal  Sock,  within  twelve  miles,  and 
the  Lycoming,  eight  miles  beyond.  We  went  on  our 
way  rejoicing  until  we  came  to  the  Loyal  Sock.  There 
was  no  inhabitant  near.  What  was  to  be  done.  I 
told  Uncle  Moore  we  must  do  one  of  two  things,  either 
swim  our  horses  across,  or  encamp  on  the  bank  till  the 
river  falls,  but  I  thought  there  was  no  danger  in  swim- 
ming, as  it  was  a  deep  stream  and  not  rapid.  I  pro- 
posed to  go  over  first,  and  if  I  arrived  safe,  he  might 
follow  if  ho  thought  proper.  I  gave  him  directions  to 
hold  his  horse  quartering  up  stream,  and  seize  with  his 
right  hand  the  horse's  mane,  and  not  look  down  in  the 
water,  but  straight  across  to  some  object  on  the  other 
side.  I  passed  over  without  difficulty.  The  old  gen- 
tleman hesitated  for  some  time.  At  length  he  plunged 
in  and  crossed  with  ease.  We  soon  after  arrived  at 
the  bank  of  the  Lycoming  Creek.  That  stream  was 
high  and  outrageously  rapid.  We  concluded  that  it 
was  best  to  wait  until  it  became  fordable.  We  stopped 
at  the  house  of  one  Thompson,  remained  there  several 
days,  overhauled  our  clothing  and  provisions,  and  made 
another  fresh  start,  and  entered  the  wilderness  on 
Capt.  Williamson's  new  road. 

There  were  no  houses  between  Lycoming  and  Paint- 
ed Post,  a  distance  of  95  miles,  except  one  in  the 
wilderness,  kept  by  a  semi-barbarian — or  in  other 
words,  a  half-civilized  Frenchman,  named  Anthony 
Sun.  He  did  not  bear  a  very  good  character,  but  we 
were  obliged  to  put  up  with  him  for  the  night,  oi  en- 
camp in  the  woods.     The  next  night  we  slept  soundly 


128 


on  a  bed  o^  hemlock,  on  the  bank  of  the  Tioga  River. 
Next  day,  about  12  o'clock,  we  arrived  at  Fuller's 
Tavern,  Painted  Post.  We  ordered  dinner  of  the  very 
best  they  could  afford,  which  consisted  of  fried  venison 
and  hominey.  After  dinner  we  concluded  to  spend  the 
afternoon  in  visiting  the  few  inhabitants  of  that  neigh- 
borhood, of  whom  I  have  befor*  spoken.  First  we 
called  upon  Judge  Knox,  who  entertained  us  with  a 
description  of  the  country  and  his  own  adventures. 
We  next  called  on  Benjamin  Eaton,  who  kept  a  little 
store  of  goods,  and  after  an  introduction  by  Judge 
Knox  to  the  rest  of  the  neighborhood,  returned  to  our 
hotel  and  put  up  for  the  night.  In  the  morning  we 
started  for  Bath,  a  distance  of  eighteen  miles.  When 
we  reached  the  mouth  of  Mud  Creek,  we  found  that  a 
house  of  entertainment  had  been  erected  there,  and 
was  kept  by  one  Thomas  Corbit,  who  came  from  Penn- 
sylvania with  Williamson's  company.*  Thomas  had 
been  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution,  and  could  sing  an  un- 
accountable number  of  patriotic  songs — Hail  Columbia, 
among  the  rest.  Some  thirty  years  after  he  became 
poor  and  helpless.  I  procured  for  him  a  pension, 
through  Henry  Clay,  but  he  did  not  live  long  to  en- 
joy it. 

We  arrived  at  Bath  and  put  up  at  the  only  house 

"■  *  The  first  settlers  at  the  mouth  of  Mud  Creek  were  Thomas  Corbit, 
in  '93,  John  Dolson,  in  '94,  and  Henry  Bush.  Capt.  Williamson,  while 
on  a  journey  from  the  Korth,  was  taken  sick,  and  was  so  kindly  taken 
care  of  at  Dolson's  house,  on  the  Chemung,  that  he  gave  Mrs.  D.  200 
acres  of  land  wherever  she  might  locate  it,  between  Painted  Post  and 
the  Hermitage. 


1 


129 

of  entertainment  in  the  village  (if  it  could  be  called  a 
house).  It's  construction  was  of  pitch-pine  logs,  in 
two  apartments,  one  story  high,  kept  by  a  very  kind 
and  obliging  English  family  of  the  name  of  Metcalfe. 
This  house  was  the  only  one  in  town  except  a  similar 
one  erected  for  the  temporary  abode  of  Capt.  William- 
son, which  answered  the  purpose  of  parlor,  dining- 
room,  and  land  office.  There  were  besides  some  shan- 
ties for  mechanics  and  laborers. 

I  called  on  Capt.  Williamson  and  introduced  myself 
to  him  as  a  mechanic.  I  told  him  that  I  had  seen  his 
advertisement,  and  in  pursuance  of  his  invitation,  had 
come  to  ask  employment.  "  Very  well,"  said  he, 
"young  man,  you  shall  not  be  disappointed."  He 
told  me  I  should  have  the  whole  of  his  work  if  I  could 
procure  as  many  hands  as  was  necessary.  We  entered 
into  an  agreement.  He  asked  me  when  I  should  be 
ready  to  commence  business.  I  told  him  that  I  must 
return  to  Northumberland  and  engage  some  hands 
there,  and  send  out  tools  and  baggage  up  the  North 
branch  of  the  Susquehanna  River  to  Tioga  Point,  that 
being  the  head  of  boat  navigation.       ;  ..^  1^. 

I  introduced  Uncle  Moore  to  him — told  him  that  he 
came  all  the  way  to  see  the  country,  and  that  if  he 
liked  it,  he  would  purchase  a  farm  and  move  <hi  it  with 
his  family.  He  made  a  selection  four  miles  west  of 
Bath  on  which  some  of  his  family  now  reside.  <,,% 

We  returned  immediately  to  Northumberland,  hired 
a  few  young  men  carpenters.  We  shipped  our  tools 
and  baggage  on  a  boat,  sold  my  horse,  and  we  went  <m 
foot  to  Bath,  arriving  there  in  five  days.     One  more 


ISO 


# 


trip  was  necessary  before  we  could  commence  Dusmess, 
as  our  baggage  would  be  landed  at  Tioga  Point. 
There  were  no  roads  at  that  time  through  the  narrows 
on  the  Chemung  for  wagons  to  pass  with  safety ;  there- 
fore eight  of  us  started  on  foot  for  the  Point.  When 
we  came  within  four  miles  of  Newtown,  we  discovered 
a  number  of  canoes  owned  by  some  Dutch  settlers.  I 
purchased  four  of  them.  One  of  them  was  a  very  large 
one  which  I  bought  of  a  funny  old  Dutchman,  who  said 
his  canoe  "  wash  de  granny  from  de  whole  river  up." 
My  companions  gave  me  the  title  of  Commodore,  and 
insisted  on  my  taking  command  of  the  large  canoe.  I 
selected  as  a  shipmate  a  young  man  by  the  name  of 
Gordon  who  was  well  skilled  in  the  management  of 
such  a  craft.  We  laid  in  provision  for  the  voyage  and 
a  full  supply  of  the  joyful.  We  pushed  our  little  fleet 
into  the  river,  and  with  wind  and  tide  in  our  favor,  ar- 
rived at  Tioga  Point  in  four  hours,  a  distance  of  twen- 
ty-four miles.  We  shipped  our  goods,  and  set  out 
with  paddles  and  long  setting  poles  against  a  strong 
current.  Then  came  the  tug  of  war.  Many  times  wo 
were  obliged  to  land,  and  with  a  long  tope  tow  our  ves- 
sels up  falls  and  strong  riffles,  and  in  ascending  the 
Conhocton  we  had  to  cut  through  many  piles  of  drift- 
wood. Our  progress  was  slow.  We  made  the  trip 
from  the  Point  (fifty-six  miles)  in  nine  days.  It  was 
the  hardest  voyage  that  I  ever  undertook.  We  were 
the  first  navigators  of  the  Conhocton  river. 

By  this  time  Captain  Williamson  had  erected  two 
saw-mills  on  the  Conhocton  river,  near  Bath,  and  they 
were  in  full  operation.     Houses  were  erected  as  fast 


131 


as  thirty  or  forty  hands  could  finish  them.  Captain 
Williamson  called  on  me  and  asked  me  how  long  it 
would  take  me  to  erect  and  finish  a  fTd.me  building  of 
forty  by  sixteen  feet,  one  and  a  half  stories  high,  all 
green  stuff.  He  told  me  that  he  expected  a  good  deal 
of  company  in  a  few  days,  and  there  was  no  house 
where  so  many  could  be  entertained.  I  told  him  if  all 
the  materials  were  delivered  on  the  spot,  I  would  en- 
gage to  finish  it  according  to  his  plan  in  about  three 
days,  or  perhaps  in  less  time.  "  Very  well,  sir,"  said 
he,  '^  if  you  finish  the  house  in  the  time  you  have  stat-^ 
ed,  you  shall  be  rewarded."  I  told  my  hands  what  I 
had  undertaken  to  do,  and  the  time  I  had  to  do  it  in 
was  limited  to  three  days  :  "  I  will  pay  each  of  you 
one  dollar  a  day  extra.  We  shall  have  to  work  day 
and  night.  What  say  you,  boys  V  Their  answer 
was :  "  We  will  go  it."  This  was  followed  up  by 
three  hearty  cheers  for  Captain  Williamson.  Next 
morning  I  went  at  it  with  thirty  hands,  and  in  forty- 
eight  hours  the  house  was  finished  according  to  agree- 
ment. No  lime-stone  had  yet  been  discovered  in  that 
region,  nor  even  stone  suitable  for  walling  cellars, 
therefore  the  whole  materials  for  building  were  from 
necessity  confined  to  timber  and  nails.  Captain  Wil- 
liamson paid  me  $400  for  my  forty-eight  hours'  job, 
and  remarked  that  he  would  not  have  been  disappoint- 
ed for  double  that  sum.  He  published  an  account  of 
this  little  affair  in  the  Albany  and  New  York  papers^ 
It  had  some  effect  of  bringing  our  little  settlement  into 
notice.  He  also  gave  orders  for  the  erection  of  a  large 
building  of  80  by  40  feet,  for  a  theatre,  and  for  the 


!•<;< 


182 

clearing  of  one  hundred  acres,  around  which  was  made 
a  heautiful  race-course,  and  another  on  Genesee  Flats, 
near  Williamshurgh.  Such  amusements  had  the  ef> 
feet  of  hringing  an  immense  number  of  gentlemen  into 
the  county  every  spring  and  fall.  This  was  done  by 
Captain  W.  in  order  to  promote  the  interest  of  his  em- 
ployer. Southern  sportsmen  came  with  their  full- 
blooded  racers ;  others,  again,  with  bags  of  money  to 
bet  on  the  horses,  and  a  large  proportion  of  gamblers 
and  blacklegs.  Money  was  plenty,  in  those  days  at 
least,  in  and  about  Bath,  and  was  easily  obtained  and 
as  easily  lost.  Some  men  became  immensely  rich  in 
twenty-four  hours,  and  perhaps  the  next  day  were  re- 
duced to  beggary. 

Such  amusements  and  scenes  of  dissipation  led  to 
another  species  of  gambling  called  land  speculation. 
Any  respectable  looking  gentleman  might  purchase  on 
a  credit  of  six  years,  from  one  mile  square  to  a  town- 
ship of  land.  The  title  that  Captain  Williamson  gave 
was  a  bond  for  a  deed  at  the  end  of  the  term,  provided 
payment  was  fully  made  ;  otherwise  the  contract  be- 
came null  and  void.  Those  bonds  were  transferable 
and  the  speculators  sold  to  each  other,  and  gave  their 
bonds  for  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dol- 
lars, which  was  the  ruin  of  all  who  embarked  in  such 
foolish  speculations.  They  became  the  victims  of  a 
monoitoania.  Captain  W.  believed  that  this  specula- 
tion would  hasteii  the  settlement  of  the  county,  but  its 
tendency  proved  to  be  the  reverse.  Besides,  it  was 
the  ruin  of  many  honest,  enterprising  and  industrious 


men. 


K.i  iifli;    fd^Ji^SiiJ    sMii  ^iy^>i  Oi^  Vl 


l^xinkiHiJ 


183 


■  Captain  W.  always  advised  me  to  keep  clear  of  land 
speculation,  and  I  resisted  the  temptation  for  more 
than  two  years.  I  was  doing  well  enough,  clearing 
several  thousand  dollars  a  year,  but  like  many  others, 
did  not  let  well  enough  alone.  My  father's  family 
had  arrived  in  the  United  States,  and  had  settled  in 
the  county  of  Northumberland,  Pa.,  and  I  started  in 
the  fall  of  1794  to  visit  them.  On  my  way  there,  T 
met  with  one  of  those  speculating  gentlemen  with  whom 
I  was  acquainted.  He  offered  me  a  great  bargain,  as 
I  supposed,  of  half  a  Township,  or  12,000  acres.  It 
was  the  south  half  of  '^^ownship  No.  6,  now  called 
South  Dansville.  I  agreed  to  pay  him  for  his  right 
twenty-five  cents  per  acre,  and  paid  him  ^1,000  in 
hand — and  gave  him  my  notes  for  the  payment  of  the 
balance  in  annual  payments.  I  went  on  to  New  York 
city  where  a  few  had  been  lucky  enough  to  make  good 
sales.  I  employed  an  auctioneer,  and  offered  my  lands 
for  sale  to  the  highest  bidder  at  the  Tontine  Coffee 
House.  It  was  knocked  off  at  my  own  bid.  I  return- 
ed sick  enough  of  land  fobbing,  but  held  on  to  my  land 
until  the  next  races  in  Bath,  when  I  made  a  sale  to  one 
Mr.  John  Brown,  a  very  respectable  merchant  and 
farmer  of  Northumberland  Co.,  Pa.  He  paid  me  in 
merchandise  $1,000,  and  gave  his  bonds  for  the  bal- 
ance. He  shortly  after  failed  in  business,  and  I  lost 
the  whole  of  my  hard  earnings. 

The  next  project  that  claimed  his  attention  was  the 
improvement  of  our  streams.  They  were  then  called 
creeks,  but  when  they  came  to  be  improved,  and  were 

made  navigable  for  arks  and  rafts,  their  names  were 
13 


134 

changed  to  those  of  rirers.     The  Colonel  ordered  the 
Conhocton  and  Mud  Creek  to  be  explored  bj  a  com- 
petent committee,  and  a  report  to  be  made,  and  an  es- 
timate of  the  probable  expense  required  to  make  them 
navigable  for  arks  and  rafts.    The  report  of  the  com- 
mittee was  favorable.     A  number  of  hands  were  em- 
ployed to  remove  obstructions  and  apen  a  passage  to 
Painted  Post — ^which  was  done,  though  the  channel 
still  remained  very  imperfect  and  dangerous.*     The 
question  was  then  asked,  who  shall  be  the  first  adven- 
turer 1    We  had  not  as  yet  any  surplus  produce  to 
spare,  but  lumber  was  a  staple  commodity,  and  was  in 
great  demand  at  Harrisburgh,  Columbia,  and  Balti- 
more.    I  therefore  came  to  the  conclusion  to  try  the 
experiment  the  next  spring.     I  went  to  work  and  built 
an  ark  75  feet  long  and  16  feet  wide,  and  in  the  course 
of  the  winter  got  out  a  cargo  of  pipe  and  hogshead 
staves,  which  I  knew  would  turn  to  good  aocount 
should  I  arrive  safely  at  Baltimore.     All  things  being 
ready,  with  cargo  on  board,  and  a  good  pitch  of  water 
and  a  first-rate  set  of  hands,  we  put  out  our  unwieldy 
vessel  into  the  stream,  and  away  we  went  at  a  rapid 
rate,  and  in  about  half  an  hour  reached  White's  Is- 
land, five  miles  below  Bath.     There  we  ran  against'  a 
large  tree  that  lay  across  the  river.     We  made  fast 
our  ark  to  the  shore,  cut  away  the  tree,  repaired  dama- 
ges, and  next  morning  took  a  fair  start.    It  is  unneces- 
sary to  state  in  detail  the  many  difficulties  we  encoun- 

*The  Coohocton  waa  declared  navigable  above  Liberty  Comers. 
The  first  attempt  at  clearing  the  channel  was  made  on  the  strength 
•f  a  fund  of  1*700,  raised  by  subscription. 


"%- 


185 


I 


tered  before  we  reached  Painted  Post,  but  in  about  six 
days  we  got  there.  The  Chemung  River  had  fallen  so 
low  that  we  were  obliged  to  wait  for  a  rise  of  water. 
In  four  or  five  days  we  were  favored  with  a  good  pitch 
^f  water.  We  made  a  fresh  start,  and  in  four  days 
ran  200  miles,  to  Mohontongo,  a  place  20  miles  from 
Harrisburgh,  where,  through  the  ignorance  of  the  pilot, 
we  ran  upon  a  bar  of  rocks  in  the  middle  of  the  river, 
where  it  was  one  mile  wide.  There  we  lay  twenty- 
four  hours,  no  one  coming  to  our  relief  or  to  take  us 
on  shore.  At  last  a  couple  of  gentlemen  came  on 
board,  and  told  us  it  was  impossible  to  get  the  ark  off 
until  a  rise  of  wat^r.  One  of  the  gentlemen  enquired, 
apparently  very  carelessly,  what  it  cost  to  build  an 
«rk  of  that  size,  and  how  many  thousand  staves  we 
had  on  board.  I  suspected  his  object,  and  answered 
him  in  his  own  careless  manner.  He  asked  if  I  did 
not  wish  to  sell  the  ark  and  cargo.  I  told  him  I 
^ould  prefer  going  through  if  there  was  any  chance  of 
a  rise  of  water — that  pipe^taves,  in  Baltimore,  were 
worth  $80  per  thousand,  but  if  you  wish  to  purchase, 
and  will  make  me  a  generous  offer,  I  will  think  of  it. 
He  offered  me  $600.  I  told  him  that  was  hardly  half 
the  price  of  the  cargo  at  Baltimore,  but  if  he  would 
give  me  $800  I  would  close  a  bargain  with  him.  He 
said  he  had  a  horse,  saddle  and  bridle  on  shore,  worth 
$200,  which  he  would  add  to  the  $600.  We  all  went 
•on  shore.  I  examined  the  horse,  and  considered  him 
worth  the  $200.  We  closod  the  bargain,  and  I  started 
for  Bath.  I  lost  nothing  by  the  sale,  but  if  I  had  suc- 
ceeded in  reachmg  Baltimore  I  should  have  cleared 
4^500. 


The  fiame  spring,  Jacob  Bartles,  and  his  brother-in- 
law  Mr.  Harvey,  made  their  way  down  Mud  Creek 
with  one  ark  and  some  rafts.  Bartles'  Mill  Pond  and 
Mud  Lake  afforded  water  sufficient  at  any  time,  by 
drawing  a  gate,  to  carry  arks  and  rafts  out  of  the 
creek.  Harvey  lived  on  the  west  branch  of  the  Sus- 
quehanna, and  understood  the  management  of  such 
crafts. 

Thus  it  was  ascertained  to  a  certainty,  that,  by  im- 
proving those  streams,  we  could  transport  our  produce 
to  Baltimore — a  distance  of  300  miles — ^in  the  spring 
of  the  year,  for  a  mere  trifle. 

In  the  year  1795  I  went  lo  Albany  on  horseback. 
There  was  no  road  from  Cayuga  Lake  to  Utioa  better 
than  an  Indian  trail,  and  no  accommodations  that  I 
found  better  than  Indian  wigwams.  It  may  save  me 
43ome  trouble  if  I  tell  what  took  me  there,  and  all  nboat 
iny  business.  I  volunteered  to  give  a  history  of  my 
lown  life,  and  I  shall  redeem  my  pledge  30  far  as  my 
memory  will  enable  me  to  do  so.  I  had  got  it  into  my 
head  to  dispose  of  my  chest  of  tools,  and  turn  mer- 
chant. I  therefore  settled  my  accounts  with  Col. 
Williamson.  He  gave  me  a  draft  on  a  house  in  Al- 
bany for  ^1,500,  accompanied  by  letters  of  recom- 
mendation. I  laid  in  a  large  assortment  of  merchan- 
dise, and  shipped  them  on  board  a  Mohawk  boat* 
Being  late  in  the  fall  the  winter  set  in,  and  the  boat 
got  frozen  up  in  the  river  about  thirty  miles  west  of 
Schenectady,  at  a  place  called  the  Cross  Widow^Sy 
otherwise  called  the  Widow  Veeder's.  Here  the  goods 
lay  for  about  two  months,  till  a  sleigh-road  was  opened 

m 


137 


>■» 


4*1 


from  Utioa  to  Cayuga  Lake.  About  the  last  of  Janu- 
ary I  started  irith  sleighs  after  my  goods,  and  in  two 
weeks  arrived  at  Bath. 

I  have  already  mentioned  that  Col.  Williamson  ex- 
pended a  good  deal  of  money  in  improving  a  number 
of  farms,  and  erecting  a  number  of  buildings  on  them, 
which  gave  employment  to  many  hands.*  These  bands 
were  my  best  customers,  and  paid  up  their  accounts 
every  three  months  by  orders  on  Williamson;  but 
orders  came  from  England  to  stop  such  improvements, 
and  shortly  after  Col.  W .  resigned  his  agency.  Those 
tenants  and  laborers  got  in  my  debt,  at  this  time, 
about  $4,000,  and  in  one  night  the  whole  of  them 
cleared  out  for  Canada.  They  were  a  sad  set  of  un- 
principled scamps.  They  were  a  part  of  that  "  sprink- 
ling of  Yankees  that  came  to  make  money."  There 
was  not  one  foreigner,  nor  a  Virginian,  nor  a  Mary- 
lander  amongst  them.  They  were  a  part  of  the  first 
settlers  in  the  town  of  Wayne.  I  waited  some  time 
till  they  got  settled  down  in  Upper  Canada,  and  then 
started  to  pay  them  a  visit.  At  that  time  there  were 
no  white  inhabitants  between  Genesee  River  and  Nia- 
gara, a  distance  of  about  90  miles.  I  lodged  one  night 
with  the  Tonnewanta  Indians,  and  the  next  day  crossed 
,  the  river  to  Newark.     I  found  some  of  my  customers 

'  ^Several  of  the  Haverling,  Brundage  and  Faulkner  farms,  north 
of  the  village  of  Bath,  were  cleared  by  Capt.  W.  He  built  large 
framed  barns  on  them,  and  settled  them  with  tenants.  The  scheme 
wai)  A  failure.  The  soil,  even  at  that  early  dar,  declared  its  abhor- 
rence of  estates  other  than  for  fee-simple.  After  Oapi  W.'s  depar* 
ture,  the  farms  -w^ere  almost  hopelessly  overrun  with  oak  brus^] 


138 


at  York  or  Toronto,  and  some  at  the  Bay  of  Canty* 
I  employed  a  lawyer  named  McDonald,  who  advised 
me  to  get  all  I  could  from  them  in  the  first  place,  and 
he  would  undertake  to  collect  the  balance  if  they  were 
worth  it.  They  paid  me  about  $200.  I  heard  that 
some  of  them  had  gone  up  Lake  Erie,  and  were  in  De- 
troit. I  re-crossed  Lake  Ontario,  went  to  Fort  Erie, 
and  np  the  lake  in  the  old  U.  S.  brig  Adams,  She 
was  the  only  vessel  on  the  lake,  except  one  small 
schooner.  I  was  nine  days  on  the  passage.  I  found 
some  of  my  runaways  at  Detroit,  but  did  not  receive 
one  cent  of  them.  I  set  my  face  homewards — was 
taken  sick  on  my  passage  down  the  lake,  and  lay  six 
weeks  at  Fort  Erie.  The  physicians  pronounced  my 
case  hopeless,  but  owing  to  the  kindness  and  attention 
of  Mrs.  Crow,  my  landlady,  and  of  Col.  Warren,  the 
commissary  of  the  garrison,  I  recovered.  I  at  length 
reached  home,  after  an  absence  of  three  months.  My 
lawyer  McDonald  was  shortly  after  drowned  in  cross- 
ing the  lake.  It  was  the  last  I  heard  of  him  or  of  my 
papers. 

My  next  start  in  business  was  attended  with  a  little 
better  success.  My  brother  Charles  kept  a  small 
store  in  Bath,  and  in  the  year  1800  we  entered  into 
partnership.  I  moved  to  Dansville,  opened  a  store, 
and  remained  there  one  year.  I  did  a  safe  business, 
and  took  in  that  winter  4,000  bushels  of  wheat  and 
200  barrels  of  pork — built  four  arks,  at  Ashport,  on 
the  Canisteo  River,  and  ran  them  down  to  Baltimore. 
These  were  the  first  arks  that  descended  the  Canisteo. 
My  success  in  trade  that  year  gave  me  another  fair 


'.  ^  • 


189 


ff 


start.  My  brother,  in  the  mean  time,  went  to  Phila- 
delphia to  lay  in  a  fresh  supply  of  goods  for  both 
stores ;  but  on  his  way  home  he  died  very  suddenly  at 
Tioga  Point.  He  had  laid  in  about  $30,000  worth  of 
goods.  I  returned  to  Bath  with  my  family — continued 
my  store  at  Dansville — opened  one  at  Penn  Yan,  and 
sent  a  small  assortment  to  Pittstown,  Ontario  County. 
At  this  time  I  purchased  the  Cold  Spring  Mill  site, 
half  way  between  Bath  and  Crooked  Lake,  of  one 
Skinner,  a  Qu^iker,  with  200  acres  of  land,  and  pur- 
chased from  the  Land  OflSce  and  others  about  800 
acres,  to  secure  the  whole  privilege.  Here  I  erected  a 
flouring-mill,  saw-mill,  fulling-mill  and  carding  ma- 
chine. I  perceived  that  wheat  would  be  the  principal 
staple  of  the  farmers,  and  I  also  knew  from  experience 
that  there  would  be  great  risk  in  running  wheat  to 
Baltimore  down  a  very  imperfect  and  dangerous  navi- 
gation, and  the  risk  in  running  flour,  well  packed,  com- 
paratively small.  The  flouring  mill,  with  two  run  of 
stones,  I  completed  in  the  best  manner  in  three 
montlis.  I  sent  handbills  into  all  the  adjoining  coun- 
ties, offering  a  liberal  price  for  wheat  delivered  at  my 
mills,  or  at  any  stores  in  Dansville,  Penn  Yan  and 
Pittstown.  I  received  in  the  course  of  the  winter 
20,000  bushels  of  wheat,  two-thirds  of  which  I  floured 
and  packed  at  my  mills ;  built  in  the  winter  eight  arks 
at  Bath,  and  four  on  the  Canisteo.  In  the  spring  I 
ran  the  flour  to  Baltimore,  and  the  wheat  to  Columbia. 
The  river  was  in  fine  order,  and  we  L^ade  a  prosperous 
voyage  and  a  profitable  sale.  I  cleared  enough  that 
spring  to  pay  all  my  expenditures  and  improvements 


140 


iii 

I 


on  the  Cold  Spring  property.  After  disposing  of  my 
cargo,  I  went  to  Philadelphia  and  settled  with  my  mer- 
ohants,  laid  in  a  very  extensive  assortment  of  goods, 
loaded  two  boats  at  Columhia,  and  sent  them  up  the 
river  to  Painted  Post. 

My  next  project  was  to  build  a  schooner  on  Crooked 
Lake,  of  about  thirty  tons  burden,  for  the  purpose  of 
carrying  wheat  from  Penn  Yan  to  the  head  of  the  lake. 
I  advertised  the  schooner  Sally  as  a  regular  trader  on 
Crooked  Lake.  The  embargo  to  the  contrary  not- 
withstandingy  (for  Jefferson's  long  embargo  had  then 
got  into  operation.)  Some  of  my  worthy  democratic 
brethren  in  the  vicinity  of  Penn  Yan  charged  me  with 
a  want  of  patriotism  for  talking  so  contemptuously  of 
that  wholesome  retaliatory  measure.  I  received  a  very 
saucy  and  abusive  letter  from  a  very  large,  portly, 
able-bodied  gentleman  of  Yates  County,  whose  corpor- 
ation was  much  larger  than  his  intellect.  This  famous 
epistle  raised  my  dander  to  a  pretty  high  pitch,  and  I 
answered  his  letter  in  bis  own  style,  and  concluded  by 
saying  that  if  Jefferson  would  not  immediately  raise 
his  embargo,  I  should  go  to  work  and  dig  a  canal  from 
Crooked  Lake  to  the  Conhocton  River,  and  the  next  he 
would  hear  of  the  schooner  Sally  would  be,  that  she 
had  run  in,  in  distress,  to  Passamaquaddy,  or  some 
other  Northern  harbor.  This  brought  our  correspond- 
ence to  a  close. 

I  erected  a  store-house  at  each  end  of  the  lake. 
The  vessel  and  store-houses  cost  me  $1,400.  The 
whole,  as  it  turned  out,  was  a  total  lo^s,  as  the  lake 
was  frozen  over  at  the  time  I  most  wau  ,ed  to  use  it. 


141 


The  farmers  did  not  then  carry  their  ivheat  to  market 
before  winter. 

I  had  given  notes  the  previous  winter  to  the  farmers 
for  wheat  to  the  amount  of  about  ^8,000,  payable  in 
June  following,  but  after  opening  my  new  goods,  I  took 
in  money  fast  enough  to  meet  the  payment  of  my  notes 
when  presented,  which  established  my  credit  with  the 
farmers  throughout  the  West,  far  and  near.  There 
was  not  at  that  time  any  other  market  for  wheat,  until 
the  great  canal  was  finished  as  far  as  Cayuga.  Wheat 
was  brought  to  my  mill  from  all  parts  of  Seneca  and 
Ontario  Counties  and  the  Genesee  River.  After  Col. 
Troup  came  into  the  agency,  he  authorized  me  to  re- 
ceive wheat  from  any  of  the  setf.ers  that  wished  to 
make  payments  in  the  land-office,  and  pay  in  my  drafts 
on  the  office  for  the  same. 

,r  Indians  were  very  numerous  at  that  time.  Their 
hunting-camps  were  within  short  distances  of  each 
other  all  over  the  county.  The  Indian  trade  was  then 
an  object.  I  hired  a  chief  of  the  name  of  Kettle-Hoop^ 
from  Buffalo,  to  teach  mo  the  Seneca  language.  He 
spoke  good  English.  All  words  that  related  to  the 
Indian  trade  or  traffic  I  wrote  down  in  one  column,  and 
opposite  gave  the  interpretation  in  Seneca,  and  so  I 
enlarged  my  dictionary  from  day  to  day  for  three  or 
four  weeks,  until  I  got  a  pretty  good  knowledge  of  the 
language.  I  then  set  out  on  a  trading  expedition 
amongst  the  Indian  encampments,  and  took  my  teacher 
along,  who  introduced  me  to  his  brethren  as  seos^ 
cagena,  that  is,  very  good  man.  They  laughed  very 
heartily  at  my  pronunciation.     I  told  them  I  had  a 


142 

great  many  goods  at  Tanighnaguanda,  that  is,  Bath, 
I  told  them  to  come  and  see  me,  and  bring  all  their 
furs,  and  peltry,  and  gammon,  (that  is,  hams  of  deer,) 
and  I  would  buy  them  all,  and  pay  them  in  goods  very 
cheap.  They  asked  me,  Tegoye  ezeethgath  and 
JVegaughy  that  is,  '*  Have  you  rum  and  wine,  or  fire- 
water." That  fall,  in  the  hunting  season,  I  took  in  an 
immense  quantity  of  furs,  peltry  and  deer  hams.  Their 
price  for  gammon,  large  or  small,  was  two  shillings. 
I  salted  and  smoked  that  winter  about  3,000  hams, 
and  sold  them  next  spring  in  Baltimore  and  Phila- 
delphia for  two  shillings  per  pound.  At  this  time  there 
was  an  old  bachelor  Irishman  in  Bath,  that  kept  a  little 
store  or  groggery,  by  the  name  of  Jemmy  McDonald, 
who  boarded  himself,  and  lived  in  his  pen  in  about  as 
good  stj  le  as  a  certain  nameless  four-legged  animal. 
He  became  very  jealous  of  me  after  I  had  secured  the 
whole  of  the  Indian  trade.  The  Indians  used  to  com- 
plain of  Jamie,  and  say  that  he  was  tos  cos,  that  is, 
not  good — too  much  cheat,  Jimmy,  When  I  had  com- 
mand of  the  army  at  Fort  George,  in  Upper  Canada, 
about  600  of  these  Indians  were  attached  to  my  com- 
mand. 

The  next  spring  t  started  down  the  rivers  Conhocton 
and  Canisteo,  with  a  large  fleet  of  arks  loaded  with 
flour,  wheat,  pork  and  other  articles.  The  embargo 
being  in  full  force,  the  price  of  flour  and  wheat  was 
very  low.  At  Havre  de  Grace  I  made  fast  two  or  three 
arks  loaded  with  wheat  to  the  stern  of  a  small  schooner 
which  lay  anchored  in  the  middle  of  the  stream,  about 
half  a  mile  from  shore.    Being  ebb  tide,  together  with 


U':[ 


the  current  of  the  stream,  we  could  not  possibly  land 
the  arks.  Night  setting  in,  there  was  no  time  to  be 
lost  in  getting  them  to  shore,  as  there  was  a  strong 
wind  down  the  bay,  and  it  would  be  impossible  to  save 
them  if  they  should  break  loose  from  the  schooner.  I 
left  the  arks  in  charge  of  William  Edwards,  of  Bath, 
whilst  I  went  on  shore  to  procure  help  to  tow  the  arks 
to  shore.  Whilst  I  was  gone  the  wind  increased,  and 
the  master  of  the  schooner  hallooed  to  Edwards,  who 
was  in  one  of  the  arks,  that  he  would  cut  loose,  as  there 
was  danger  that  he  would  be  dragged  into  the  bay  and 
get  lost,  and  he  raised  his  axe  to  cut  the  cables. 
Edwards  swore  if  he  cut  the  cables  be  would  shoot  him 
down  on  the  spot,  and  raising  a  handspike,  took  de- 
liberate aim.  It  being  dark,  the  Captain  could  not 
distinguish  between  a  handspike  and  a  rifle.  This 
brought  him  to  terms.  He  dropped  the  axe,  and  told 
Edwards  that  if  he  would  engage  that  I  should  pay 
him  for  his  vessel  in  case  she  should  be  lost,  he  would 
not  cut  loose.  Edwards  pledged  himself  that  I  would 
do  so. 

When  I  got  on  shore,  I  went  to  a  man  named  Smith, 
who  had  a  fishery,  and  a  large  boat  with  eighteen  oars, 
and  about  forty  Irishmen  in  his  employ,  and  offered  to 
hire  his  boat  and  hands.  He  was  drunk,  and  told  me 
with  an  oath,  that  I  and  my  arks  might  '*  go  to  the 
d — 1."  He  would  neither  let  the  boat  nor  his  hand^ 
go.  I  went  into  the  shanty  of  the  Irishmen,  and  put- 
ting on  an  Irish  brogue,  told  them  of  my  distress. 
*'  The  d — 1  take  Smith,  we  will  help  our  countryman, 
by  my  shoul  boys,"  said  their  leader.    They  manned 


144 


i 


the  boat,  and  the  arks  were  brought  to  the  shore  in 
double-quick  time.  They  refused  to  take  pay,  and  I 
took  them  to  a  tavern  and  ordered  them  as  much  as 
they  chose  to  drink.  My  friend  Edwards  and  those 
lolly  Irishmen  saved  my  arks  and  cargo.  Edwards  is 
yet  alive,  and  resides  in  Bath.*    ■----' 

The  loss  I  sustained  in  flour  and  wheat  this  year 
was  great,  but  I  did  not  feel  it  to  be  any  serious  inter- 
ruption to  my  business.  On  my  return,  I  concluded 
that  I  must  suspend  the  purchase  of  wheat  while  that 
ruinous  measure,  the  embargo,  was  in  force,  and  fall 
upon  some  other  scheme  and  project.  So  I  opened  a 
large  distillery,  which  opened  a  market  to  the  farmers 
for  their  rye-corn,  and  even  wheat,  which  I  converted 
into  "  fire-water,"  as  the  Indians  very  properly  call 
it.  Jefferson's  embargo  did  not  injure  the  sale  of  it, 
but  the  contrary,  as  whiskey  was  then  worth  by  the 
barrel  from  eight  to  ten  shillings  per  gallon,  and  all 
men,  women,  and  children  drank  of  it  freely  in  those 
days.  I  converted  much  of  my  whiskey  into  gin, 
brandy,  and  cordials,  in  order  to  suit  the  palates  of 
some  of  my  tippling  customers. 

I  purchased  in  the  fall  droves  of  cattle  and  sent 
them  to  Philadelphia.  I  also  stall-fed  forty  head  of 
the  best  and  largest  cattle  in  the  winter,  which  I  ship- 
ped on  arks  to  Columbia,  and  drove  to  Philadelphia, 
where  they  sold  to  good  advantage.  This  mode  of 
sending  fat  cattle  to  market  astonished  the  natives  as 
we  passed  down  the  river.  It  proved  to  be  a  profitable 
business. 


*  He  died  in  March,  1861. 


146 


•  i'ii 


'/  In  the  year  1814  I  sold  my  Cold  Spring  Mills  to 
Henry  A.  Townsend  for  ^14,000.    I  erected  other 
mills  at  Bath.     In  1816  I  ran  down  to  Baltimore 
about  1,000,000  feet  of  pine  lumber  and  100,000  feet 
of  cherry  boards  and  curled  maple.    I  chartered  three 
brigs  and  shipped  my  cherry  and  curled  maple  and 
600  barrels  of  flour  to  Boston.     I  sold  my  flour  at  a 
fair  price,  but  my  lumber  was  a  dead  weight  on  my 
hands.   At  length,  the  inventor  of  a  machine  for  spin- 
ning wool  by  water  power,  ofifered  to  sell  me  one  of  his 
machines  for  $2,600,  and  take  lumber  in  payment.     I 
closed  a  bargain  with  him,  which  induced  me  to  em- 
bark in  woolen  manufacture.     I  obtained  a  loan  from 
the  state,  and  was  doing  well  until  Congress  reduced 
the  tariff  for  the  protection  of  home  industry  to  a  mere 
nominal  tax.     The   country  immediately  after  was 
flooded  with  foreign  fabrics,  and  but  few  woolen  fac- 
tories survived  the  shock. 

I  will  now  close  my  narrative  so  far  as  it  relates  to 
my  own  business  concerns,  with  a  single  remark,  that 
although  I  have  been  unfortunate  at  the  close  of  my 
business,  yet  I  flatter  myself  that  all  will  admit  that 
I  have  done  nothing  to  retard  the  growth  and  pros- 
perity of  the  village  of  Bath,  or  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Steuben  county  generally,  especially  at  a  time 
when  there  were  no  facilities  for  the  farmers  of  the 
county  to  transport  their  produce  to  market  other  than 
that  which  was  afforded  them  by  my  exertions.  And 
whether  the  people  of  Steuben  or  myself  have  receiv- 
ed the  most  benefit  I  leave  for  them  to  determine. 

It  would  appear  to  be  of  very  little  consequence  for 
14 


/ 1 


146 

me  to  state  the  number  of  civil  offices  that  I  held 
during  my  residence  in  Steuben  county.  It  will  only 
show  how  far  I  had  the  good  will  of  the  people.  First, 
I  was  appointed  Justice  of  the  Peace  ;  next,  a  Judge 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and  Surrogate  of  the 
county.  In  1816  I  was  appointed  High  Sheriff  of  the 
county,  which  office  I  held  four  years.  I  held  the  of- 
fice of  Post  Master  of  the  village  of  Bath,  about 
eight  years.  The  good  people  of  Steuben  also  elected 
me  three  years  in  succession  to  represent  them  in  the 
Legislature  of  the  Stale  of  New  York. — For  all  these 
favors  I  felt  then,  and  ever  shall  feel  grateful. 
"^^  This  brief  narrative  is  nothing  more  than  a  mere 
synopsis  of  some  of  the  principal  events  of  my  life 
during  the  last  sixty  years.  I  find  that  all  labor, 
whether  of  the  hand  or  head,  have  become  burthen- 
some,  which  will  be  a  sufficient  apology  for  its  insuf- 
ficiencies. "- 


NoTX. — Gen.  MoClcbe,  at  the  age  of  64-,  again  started  "  in  pur- 
suit of  the  Far  West,"  which  he  says  "  had  got  a  thousand  miles 
,  ahead  of  me,"  and  located  at  Elgin,  in  Ulinoie,  where  he  resided 
imtil  his  death  in  the  summer  of  1861.  .'/' 


■■0  , .    • 

i  ao«ijiipOfts;v. ..   ^....v  <^.   , 

?  •'   ■>•-  ■    '.* w    j  «i ' .  I i  VI  •) 

;  ,  .,  ,  -,  ;  I 

hi 


^  foii  hi!)  jl     .iVjHjm^imtnUii  -iWu  oa  tuff  mil 
■  tiiHmiJiVjho^yi- 

^  i>:l>  forfjie^    CHAPTER  VI.  aiu 

captAih    Williamson's   administration — life  at 
-  bath — grand    simcob   war — races — theatre-~ 

vindication  of  the  ancients bath  gazette-y-!'^ 

1  cov^tt:  newspapers — the  bar — physicians.  , 


b& 


Captain  Williamson  having,  toward  the  close  of  the 
last  century,  fairly  established  himself  at  Bat^,  was  the 
greatest  man  in  all  the  land  of  the  West.  His  do- 
minion extended  from  Pennsylvania  to  Lake  Ontario; 
a  province  of  twelve  hundred  thousand  acres  owned 
him  as  its  lord  ;  Indian  warriors  hailed  him  as  a  great 
chief}  settlements  on  the  Genesee,  by  the  Seneca,  and' 
at  the  bays  of  Ontario,  acknowledged  him  as  thei;r 
founder;  and  furthermore,  by  commission  from  the  Go- 
vernor of  the  State  of  New  York,  he  was  styled  Colonel 
in  the  militia  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  at  the  liead 
of  his  bold  foresters,  stood  in  a  posture  of  defiance  be- 
fore the  Pro-Cdnsul  of  Canada^  who  beheld  with  indig- 
nation  a  rival  arising  in  the  Genesee  forests,  and  tak- 
ing possesilion  of  land  which  he  claimed  for  his  own 
sovereign,  with  a  legend  of  New  Englanders  and  Penn- 
sylvania's, mighty  men  with  the  axe  and  rifle,  and 
with  colonies  of  Scotch  and  Irish  boys,  who  cleaved  to 
the  rebellious  subjects  of  the  King. 


148 


'  1 
ii 


His  was  no  idle  administration.  It  did  not  content 
him  to  sit  in  idle  grandeur  in  his  sumptuous  log-for- 
tress on  the  Conhocton,  like  a  Viceroy  of  the  Back- 
woods, feasting  on  the  roasted  sides  of  mighty  stags, 
and  eating  luxurious  hominy  from  huge  wooden  trench- 
ers with  the  captains  of  his  host.  Neither  did  he 
yield  io  those  temptations  which  so  often  beset  and 
overpower  governors  sent  to  administer  the  affairs  of 
distant  districts  of  the  wilderness,  who,  instead  of  col- 
lecting tribute  from  the  refractory  aborigines,  tind  keep- 
ing them  well  hanged,  are  forever  scouring  the  woods 
with  hounds,  and  beating  the  thickets  for  bears,  to  the 
great  neglect  of  the  royal  finances.  He  gietUoped 
hither  and  thither  with  restless  activity — flrom  Bath 
to  Big  Tree,  from  Seneca  to  Sodus,  from  Canadarque 
to  Gerundigut,  managing  the  concerns  of  his  realm 
with  an  energy  that  filled  the  desert  with  life  and  ac- 
tivity. People  heard  of  him  afar  off— in  New  England, 
in  Virginia,  and  in  Canada.  The  bttnkers  of  Albany 
and  New  York  became  familiar  with  his  signature. 
Englishmen  and  Scotchmen  were  aroused  from  their 
homes  ftnd  persuaded  to  cross  the  ocean  for  Genesee 
estates,  and  hearty  young  emigrants  of  the  better  sort 
^—farmers  and  mechanics  of  some  substance — ^werie 
met  upon  their  landing  by  recommendationa  to  leave 
the  old  settlements  behind  them,  and  try  their  fortunes 
in  Williamson's  woods.  Pioneers  from  below  pushed 
their  canoes  and  barges  up  the  rivers,  and  men  of  the 
East  toiled  wearily  through  the  forest  with  their  oxen 
and  sledges.  Not  a  few  Virginian  planters,  with  their 
great  household,  abandoned  their  barren  estates  be- 


'■^ 


149 

yo|id  th^  Potomac,  and  performed  marclies  up  thoSus* 
quehanna  valley  and  over  the  Laurel  Ridge  in  muck 
the  same  style  (saving  the  camels)  as  the  ancient  Me- 
sopotamian  patriarchs  shifted  their  quarters — young- 
sters and  young  ladies  making  the  journey  gaily  on 
horseback,  whilo  l^e  elderly  rode  in  ponderous  chaises, 
secured  against  catastrophes  by  ropes  and  props,  and 
the  shoulders  of  their  negroes.  Several  auch  cavalcades 
came  over  the  Lycoming  Road.  One  is  yet  remem- 
bered with  some  interest  by  a  few,  as  containing  a  pair 
of  distinguished  belles,  whose  fame  went  before  them, 
and  who  were  met  on  their  descent,  half  frozen,  from 
the  mountains  in  mid-winter,  at  the  Painted  Post  Hotel, 
by  a  couple  of  no  less  distinguished  sprouts  of  North- 
ern gentility,  one  pf  whom  was  afterwards  so  fortunate 
as  to  gain  the  hand  of  one  of  the  frost-bitten  beauties. 

The  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  estate  be- 
yond the  limits  of  this  county^  is  not,  of  course,  a  mat- 
ter to  be  treated  of  with  propriety  in  this  volume. 
Much  of  the  agent's  personal  attention  was  of  course 
required  in  this,  but  he  made  his  residence  at  Bath, 
and  to  lif&  and  do^ngti  at  the  metropoU^j  ,9,u|:  att<en.tip^ 
wiJifortl^e  present  bo  directed.?     ,,,.?'  ^   '      '-# 

Captain  WUliamson  dwelt  in  his  stronghold  on  the 
Conhocton,  in  high  style,  like  a  baron  of  old.  ,4U  the 
expenses  necessary  to  support  the  state  whi(?fa  auoh  a 
regent  should  maintain,  were  borne  by  the  boundlesis 
fund  which  he  controlled.  Gentlemen  from  fki 
countries  camo  up  to  the  woods  on  horseback,;  ai^d 
were  entertain^^  fPi^aptuously,  as  the  gallant  capljai^'s 
feudal  prototjjpoft  were  wpi^t  to  welcome  to  their  castles 

14*^     ":''"■■:■' ^--''.-"^  ^'  r' 


150 

sttaggling  crusaders,  pilgrims  and  foreigh  ktiighis. 
There  was  an  abundance  of  gentility  in  the  land,  both 
sham  and  genuine.  Sometimes  the  admiring  woo^ 
nymphs,  who  had  heretofore  seen  only  ill-favored  and 
bare-backed  pagans  striding  through  the  forest,  beheld 
a  solitary  horseman,  finely  dressed  in  the  most  ap- 
proved fashion  of  the  cities,  trotting  down  the  inter- 
minable lane  of  pines,  followed  at  a  respectful  distance 
by  his  servant  (a  spectacle  which  this  good  republican 
county  has  not  seen  for  many  a  year),  and  sometimes 
Captain  Williamsou  himself  might  be  seen  dashing  in 
gallant  style  through  the  woods,  with  a  party  of  riders 
from  the  Hudson  or  the  Roanoke,  mounted  on  full 
blooded  horses,  while  a  functionary  from  the  baronial 
kitchen  brought  up  the  rear,  witk  lunchedii  and  a 
basket  of  wine.  There  were,  moreover,  asses  in  lions' 
hides,  who  came  down  with  a  great  flourish,  and  psssed 
themselves  off  for  real  Nubians.  A  few  old  settlers 
have  occasion  to  remember  one  of  these  gentry,  a 
certain  captain, ''  a  great  big  man,  and  a  mighty  fine 
gentleman,  with  ruffles  in  his  shirt,  and  rings  on  his 
fingers,"  who  contracted  to  build  Captain  Williamson's 
stupendous  Marengo  bams,  and  one  day  went  off  in  a 
j^ottly  and  magnificent  way,  without  paying  his 
carpenters. 

The  Pine  Plains  were  unable  to  support  such  courtly 
personages,  and  indeed  the  good  stock  of  working  men 
ih\l  farmers  who  tilled  the  land,  found  the  soil  so  un^ 
gracious,  that  they  were  not  a  little  straightened  for 
the^^eans  of  supporting  life.  Captain  Williamson 
transported  his  first  flour  from  No^thuinberland,  and 


-V 


is; 


m 


i- 


i:. 


161 


m  a 
his 


a  quantity  of  pork  from  Philadelphia.  Afterwards 
these  luxuries  were  ohtained  as  best  they  could  be. 
Flour  was  brought  on  pack  horses  from  Tioga  Point, 
and  a  treaty  of  commerce  was  entered  into  with  Jemima 
Wilkinson,  the  prophetess,  who  had  established  her 
oracle  on  the  outlet  of  Crooked  Lake,  where  her  dis- 
ciples had  a  mill  ond  good  farms.  The  first  navigators 
of  Crooked  Lake  carried  their  cargoes  in  Durham 
boats  of  six  or  eight  tons  burden,  which  they  poled 
along  the  shore,  or  when  favoring  breezes  filled  their 
sails,  steered  through  the  mid-channel.  These  primi- 
tive gondoliers  have  lived  to  see  the  end  of  their  pro- 
fession. Notwithstanding  these  resources,  the  village 
of  the  Plains  was  sometimes  reduced  to  great  straits. 
The  Catiisteo  boy  brought  over  his  bag  of  wheat  on  a 
horse,  threw  it  down  at  the  door  of  the  agency-house, 
and  was  paid  five  silver  dollars  the  bushel.  He  drove 
his  bullock  across  the  hills,  slaughtered  it  at  the  edge 
of  the  village,  and  sold  every  thing  from  hoof  to  horn 
for  a  shilling  the  pound.  He  led  over  a  pack-horse 
laden  with  grain,  paid  all  expenses,  treated,  and  took 
home  eighteen  dollars.  One  old  farmer  remembers 
pa3riDg  tv^o  dollars  and  a  quarter  for  a  hog's  head, 
^^  and  it  was  half  hair  at  that."  ^^  Bath  was  just  like 
San  Francisco,"  says  an  old  settler  on  the  comfortable 
farms  of  Pleasant  Valley,  "  straw  was  a  shilling  a 
bunch,  and  every  thing  else  in  proportion.  Money 
was-plcnty,  but  they  almost  starved  out.  They  once 
adjourned  court  because  there  was  nothing  to  eat.  If 
it  hadn't  been  for  the  Valley,  the  Pine  Plains  would 
havo  been  depopulated.    After  court  had  been  in 


152 


i 


I 


session  two  or  three  days,  you  would  see  a  black  boy 
come  down  here  on  a  horse,  and  with  a  big  basket, 
foraging.  He  would  go  around  to  all  the  farms  to  get 
bread,  meat,  eggs,  or  anything  that  would  stay  life. 
Bath  was  the  hungriest  place  in  creation.  You  could'nt 
trust  a  leg  of  n?utton  to  anybody  but  the  land-agent." 

The  citizens  of  the  county  made  court  week  a  kind 
of  general  gathering  time,  and  the  larders  of  Bath 
were  sometimes  speedily  exhausted.  The  prudent 
juryman  before  setting  out  from  home,  slung  over  his 
shoulders  a  bag  containing  a  piece  of  cold  pork,  and  a 
huge  \oa£  of  bread ;  for  no  one  knew  to  what  extre- 
mities the  lainisters  of  justice  might  be  reduced. 

Nevertheless  the  effairs  of  the  metropolis  went  on 
finely.  The  county  prospered.  The  river  was  partially 
relieved  of  incumbranceci ;  roads  were  opened ;  bridges 
were  built ;  farms  were  cleared.  In  1796,  or  about 
that  time,  Captain  Williamson  resorted  to  sundry  bold 
devices  to  arouse  the  backward  people  of  the  East,  and 
to  spread  the  fame  of  his  realm  throughout  the  land. 
Before  entering  upon  those  subjects,  however,  there  is 
a  martial  affair  which  must  by  no  means  be  lightly 
passed  over — the  grand  Simcoe  War  of  1794.  The 
memory  of  this  has  almost  perished.  Few  of  the  good 
people  know  how  a  high  and  mighty  potentate  of  the 
North  once  rose  up  in  wrath  against  Captain  William- 
son, and  threatened  to  come  down  upon  him  with  the 
King's  regiment,  to  storm  his  villajges,  to  plant  his  ar- 
tillery,; jf  necessary,  under  the  ramparts  of  his  strong- 
hold on  the  Conhocton,  and  to  restore  the  Vino  Plains 
with  the  rest  of  Western  New  York)  to  the  Crown  of 


■Ml*  >  I  Ml  %tffjhmmt>^^ 


158 


Great  Britain.  This  is  really  the  bloodiest  paragraph 
in  the  annals  of  Steuben  County,  and  must  be  carefully 
treasured.  '  ^  u^i.* 

In  a  rather  stunning  explosion  of  rhetoriO)  a  certain 
Fourth  of  July  orator  thus  sounds  the  prelude  to  a 
kind  of  epic  anthem,  in  whioh  he  indulges,  in  view  of 
the  threatened  conflict  with  the  Powers  of  the  Pole. 
"  Hark  !  what  sounds  are  those  which  arise  from  the 
"  lowering  North  !  Lo  !  the  great  Unicorn  of  Albion 
'^  begins  to  moan  in  the  forests  of  Canada,  and  that 
''  other  red  quadruped  which  rides  rampant  upon  the 
"  British  shield,  begins  to  growl  in  an  offensive  and  im- 
"  pertinent  manner  from  the  bristling  ramparts  of  To- 
"ronto.  War's  mighty  organ  murmurs  iu  distant 
^'  caverns,  and  clouds  like  black  war-elephants,  raise 
*^  their  dusky  backs  out  of  the  waters  of  Lake  On- 
p^tario." 

Further  ,  quotations  fi'om  this  sonorous  document 
will  be  refrained  from.  Humbler  imagery  will  suffice 
to  illustrate  the  passage  of  arms  between  Captain 
Williamson  aud  the  high  and  mighty  Viceroy  of  Upper 
Cankda.  It  is  not  generally  known  to  our  citizens 
what  an  enemy  arose  against  us  in  our  infancy,  and 
how  the  infant  settlement,  like  a  sturdy  little  urchin, 
squared  itself  in  defiance  against  the  veteran  bruiser, 
who  offered  to  bully  it  out  of  its  rights.  ^ 

It  is  well  known  that  although  by  the  treaty  of  1788, 
the  British  agreed  to  Evacuate  forthwith  all  military 
posts  held  by  them  within  the  territory  of  the  United 
States,  the  forts  at  Niagara  and  Oswego  were  held 
under  variotts  pretexts  until  the  year  1796.    Certain 


154 


claims  of  sovereignty  over  certain  lands  in  Western 
Ne^ .  York,  were  asserted  by  British  officers,  and  their 
presence,  their  influence  over  the  Indians,  and  tho  in- 
trigues of  their  agents,  caused  much  apprehension  and 
annoyance  to  the  settlers.  Captain  WiHiamson,  as 
we  have  seen,  was  interested  in  a  settlement  at  Sodus. 
On  the  16th  of  August,  1794,  Lieut.  Sheafie,  a  British 
officer,  called  at  that  place,  ^'  by  special  commission 
from  the  Lieutenant  Governor  of  his  Britannic  Majes- 
ty's province  of  Upper  Canada,"  and  in  the  absence  of 
Captain  Williamson,  left  a  letter  for  him,  demanding 
^'  by  what  authority  an  establishment  has  been  ordered 
at  this  place,  and  to  require  that  such  a  design  be  im- 
mediately relinquished." 

Tho  potentate  by  whom  this  order  was  dictated 
was  Colonel  Simcoe,  an  ouicer,  who,  wo  believe, 
served  with  some  distinction  at  the  head  of  a  re^- 
giment  of  loyalists  in  the  Revolution,  a  gentleman 
undoubtedly  of  ability  and  discretion,  and  esteemed 
«  good  Governor  by  the  Canadians,  but  one  who  felt 
sore  at  the  late  discomfiture  of  the  Royal  arms,  and 
who  appears  to  have  embraced  tho  delusion  for  a  lonjc; 
time  entertained  by  British  officers  of  the  old  school, 
of  the  possibility  of  marching  through  America  with  a 
brigade  of  grenadiers.  The  Duke  de  la  RochefoucauU 
Liancourt,  a  French  traveller,  gives  us  the  key  to 
Col.  Simcoe's  character  and  aspirations. — ^^  He  dis- 
*^  courses  with  much  good  sense  on  all  subjects,  but  his 
^'  favorite  topics  are  his  projects  and  war,  which  seem 
^*  to  be  the  objects  of  his  leading  passions^  He  is  ac- 
*' quainted  with  the  military  history  of  all  ksountrios. 


u 
u 

it 


1 


166 


re'. 


.•i 


**  No  hillock  catches  his  oje  without  exciting  in  his 
'  '*  mind  the  idea  of  a  fort  which  might  he  constructed 

'  '^'  on  the  spot,  and  with  the  construction  of  this  fort  ho 
'*  associates  the  plan  of  operations  for  a  campaign,  et- 
"  pecially  of  that  whiph  is  to  lead  him  to  Philadelphia," 
Col.  Simcoe,  then,  had  a  professional  hobhy.  He 
looked  at  hanks  and  brdes  with  the  eye  of  Major  Dal- 
getty,  and  believed  that  hills  were  made  for  castles, 
harbors  for  forts,  and  knolls  for  "  sconces."  Of  Phar- 
salia  and  Aginconrt,  of  the  Retreat  of  the  Ten  Thou- 
sand, and  the  flank  movements  of  Oustavus,  of  the  tac- 
tics of  Gideon  and  the  forays  of  Shishak,  of  battering- 
rams  and  bomb-sheils,  of  torpedos,  catapults,  pikes 
and  pistols — of  such  was  the  conversation  of  Col.  Sim- 
ooe.  Of  marching  from  Niagara  through  the  wilder- 
ness like*  a  Canadian  Hannibal,  of  routing  the  baok- 

'^woodsmen  and  making  captive  the  audacious  William- 
son in  his  stronghold  among  the  mountains,  of  emerg- 
ing from  the  forest  with  drums,  clarinets  and  feathers, 
of  riding  over  the  stupified  farmers  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  trailing  his  victorious  cannon  through  the  streets 
of  Philadelphia,  of  hiding  the  humiliation  of  Saratoga 
in  a  blaze  of  glory,  and  of  generally  grinding  to  pow- 
der the  rebellious  enemies  of  the  King— of  such  were 
the  dreams  of  Col.  Simcoe. 

As  the  first  step  toward  the  attainment  of  these 
magnificent  results,  the  Viceroy  of  His  Britannic  Ma- 
jesty  stole  a  barrel  of  flour.         *  •  ^"=  ^  '■  • » '  ;  -r '  ? : 

How  this  exploit  was  performed, — whether  the  store- 
house was  approached  after  the  style  of  Turenne,  and 
the  clerk  summoned  to  surrender  the  key  of  the  pad- 


156 


h 


lock,  ip  the  words  of  the  Grand  Turk  at  Constanti- 
nople ;  whether  hoops  were  respected  and  staves  treated 
considerately,  according  to  the  usages  of  the  Black 
Prince  and  other  mirrors  of  courtesy,  we  cannot  say, 
though  the  Governor  undoubtedly  overhauled  his  libra- 
ry and  reviewed  Rollings  History  before  he  attempted 
a  manoeuvre  which  was  probably  without  a  precedent 
in  the  "  military  history  of  all  nations."  The  particu- 
lars of  this  fell  swoop  of  the  Canadian  war-kite  do  not 
appear  in  the  few  books  hastily  consulted  on  that  sub- 
ject,— loftier  matters,  the  evacuation  of  forts,  the 
movements  of  emissaries,  and  the  correspondence  of 
functionaries,  being  solely  discoursed  of  in  those.  Old 
setders,  however,  aver  that  a  quantity  of  flour  belong-, 
ing  to  Capt.  Williamson  was  seized  by  the  British  and 
carried  olf.a!*f»«>^  If**., f' 

Capt.  Williamson  resented  the  affront  in  a  spirited 
manner.  A  sharp  correspondence  followed  between 
himself  and  the  trespassing  parties.  The  cabinet  at 
Washington  took  the  matter  in  hand.  The  prospect 
looked,  to  the  men  in  the  forest,  decidedly  warlike. 
The  "black  war  elephants,"  which  the  orator  saw 
rising  out  of  the  billows  of  Ontario,  it  may  be  believed, 
shook  their  bright  and  glittering  tusks  with  evil  pur- 
port, while  those  other  surly  quadrupeds  which  dis- 
played themselves  in  such  an  ill-tempered  manner  on 
the  "bristling  ramparts  of  Toronto,"  undoubtedly  in- 
dulged in  demonstrations  equftlly  hostile  and  alavmnig. 
Captain  Williamson  had  reason  to  believe  that  in  tl 
event  of  actual  hostilities,  the  vengeance  of  Col.  >Siii{ 
coe  might  seek  him  in  his  own  city.    He  deterui'nci'^ 


157 


td  make  ready  for  the  blow,  to  rally  the  woodsmen,  to 
picket  the  public  square,  and  to  entertain  the  Canadian 
Hannibal  and  his  legions  with  such  a  feast  of  smoke, 
steel,  and  sulphur,  as  those  fire-eaters  alone  could  re- 
lish. 

Gen.  McClure  in  his  manuscript  says,  "  The  ad- 
ministration at  Washington  apprised  Capt.  William- 
son of  the  difiSculties  that  had  arisen  between  thia 
country  and  Great  Britain,  and  required  him  to  make 
preparations  for  defence.  He  therefore  received  a 
Colonel's  commission  from  the  Governor  of  New  York, 
and  immediately  thereafter  sent  an  express  to  Albany^ 
for  one  thousand  stand  of  arms,  several  pieces  of  can- 
non and  munitions  of  war.  He  lost  no  time  in  making 
preparations  for  war.  He  gave  orders  to  my  friend 
Andrew  Smith  to  prepare  timber  for  picketing  on  a 
certain  part  of  our  village  and  ordered  that  I  should 
erect  block-houses  aceording  to  his  plan.  The  work 
went  cheerily  on.  We  could  rally,  in  case  of  alarm, 
five  or  six  hundred,  most  of  them  single  men.  Our 
Colonel  organized  his  forces  into  companies.  I  had 
the  honor  of  being  appointed  Captain  of  a  light  infantry 
company,  and  had  the  privilege  of  selecting  one  hun- 
dred men,  non-commisioned  officers  and  privates.  In 
a  short  time  my  company  appeared  in  handsome  uni- 
form. By  the  instructions  of  our  Colonel  we  mounted 
guard  every  night,— exterior  as  well  as  interior.  Most 
of  our  own  Indians,  whom  we  supposed  were  friendly, 
disappeared,  which  we  thought  was  a  very  suspicious 
circumstance."* 

*  Mr.  Henry  McElwee,  of  Mud  Creek,  was  employed  by  Ool.  W. 

15  '■     '    ^  ^        '--^i^- 


I 


158 


The  young  settlement,  like  the  infant  hero  of  oM, 
seemed  likely  to  be  attacked  in  its  cradle  by  a  serpent ; 
and  although  the  backwoodsmen,  even  of  Canisteo, 
were  too  considerate  to  strangle  the  British  Empire 
aggressively,  and  without  an  act  of  Congress  author- 
izing such  violence,  yet  it  is  quite  apparent  that  had 
this  great  power  seen  fit  to  assail  Col.  Williamson's 
little  province,  the  consequences  would  have  been  dis- 
astrous either  to  the  one  or  the  other.  Every  thing 
was  made  ready.  Further  movements  of  those  "  blttck 
war-elephants  "  and  the  rest  of  the  hostile  menagerie 
were  awaited  with  interest.  How  soon  will  the  snort- 
ing charger  of  Simcoe  prance  upon  the  banks  of  the 
terrified  Conhocton,  while  his  gloomy  grenadiers  stride 
through  the  forest  with  fixed  bayonets  and  frowns. 
How  soon  will  the  flags  of  St.  George  flaunt  under  the 
Eight-mile  Tree,  or  field  pieces  roar  under  our  splin- 
ttering  palisades,  while  all  the  Six  Nations,  yelling  in 
the  under-brush,  drive  the  wolves  distracted.  The 
apprehension  of  invasion  was  probably  not  very  alarm- 
ing, yet  suflSciently  so  to  excite  patriotism  and  visions. 
The  lonely  settler,  sleeping  in  his  cabin  far  in  the  fo- 
rest, the  loaded  rifle  standing  at  his  bed  side,  the  watch- 
ful hounds  growling  without,  dream  that  his  house  is 
assailed  by  seventy  or  eighty  Esquimaux,  painted  like 
rainbows,  and  led  on  by  George  the  Third  in  person, 
while  Lord  Gornwallis  supports  his  sovereign  with  a 
ninety-gun  ship  and  a  bomb-ketch. 

to  cut  -white  onk  saplings  eighteen  feet  long  and  eighteen  inches 
thick  at  the  butt,  to  be  used  for  palisades,  in  enclosing  the  Pultenej 
Square.    A  great  many  of  these  were  cut  and  peeled  ready  for  use. 


159 


1^^  All  stand  waiting  for  the  dogs  of  war.  "  The  soli- 
^*  tary  express-rider  now  gallops  through  the  streets  of 
^^  Northumberland,  clatters  along  the  rockj  roads, 
^^  wheels  up  the  Lycoming,  climbs  the  Laurel  Bridge 
^^  and  urges  his  stumbling  horse  over  the  rugged  Ger- 
man path,  descends  to  the  Tioga,  hurries  along  the 
rivers,  and,  riding  at  night  into  the  guarded  citadel 
of  the  Conhocten,  declares  tidings  of  peace*  The 
lion,  grumbling  no  longer  on  the  ramparts  of  To- 
*^  ronto,  lies  down  in  his  lair ;  the  pacified  unicorn 
^*  ceases  to  stamp  upon  the  Canadian  soil,  and  the 
"  black  war-elephants  haul  in  their  horns,  and  sink 
"behind  the  northern  horizon."  Such  is  the  perora- 
tion of  the  Fourth  of  July  Orator. 

In  1796,  Col.  Williamson,  by  way;  of  blowing  a 
trumpet  in  the  wilderness,  advertised  to  all  North 
America  and  the  adjacent  islands,  that  grand  races 
would  be  held  at  Bath.  At  the  distance  of  half  a  mile 
from  the  village,  a  race-course  of  a  mile  in  circuit  was 
cleared  and  carefully  grubbed,  and  all  the  resources  of 
the  metrdpolis  W0te  brought  forth  for  the  entertain- 
ment of  as  many  gentlemen  of  distinction  and  miscel* 
laneous  strangers  as  might  honor  the  festival  by  their 
presence.  But  what  probability  was  there  that  such  a 
festival  would  be  celebrated  with  success  in  the  mi^^st  of 
"  a  wilderness  of  nine  hundred  thousand  acres  1"  From 
Niagara  to  the  Mohawk  were  but  a  few  hundred  scat- 
tered cabips,  a^d  in  ^  the  south  a  dozen  ragged  settle- 
ments, cpntaH)^  the  greater  part  pfithe  civilized  popu- 
lation till  y^kttiTQached  Wyoming.  Bnt  Qol.  William- 
son did  not  mistake  the  spirit  9f  ^l^e  tm^p*    Those 


160      ' 

were  the  days  of  high  thoughts  and  great  deeds.  On 
the  day,  and  at  the  place  appointed  for  the  race  in  the 
proclamation,  sportsmen  from  New  York,  Philadelphia 
and  Baltimore  were  in  attendance.  The  high  blades 
of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  the  fast-boys  of  Jersey,  the 
wise  jockeys  of  Long  Island,  men  of  Ontario,  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Canada,  settlers,  choppers,  gamesters  and 
hunters,  to  the  number  of  fifteen  hundred  or  two 
thousand,  met  on  the  Pine  Plains  to  see  horses  run— 
a  number  as  great,  considering  the  condition  of  the 
region  where  they  met,  as  now  assembles  at  State  Fairs 
and  Mass  Meetings.  No  express-trains  then  rolled 
down  from  Shawangunk — no  steamboats  plowed  the 
lakes — no  stages  rattled  along  the  rocky  roads  above 
the  Susquehanna.  Men  of  blood  and  spirit  made  the 
journey  from  the  Potomac  and  the  Hudson  on  horse- 
back, supported  by  the  high  spirit  of  the  ancients  to 
endure  the  miseries  of  blind  trails  and  log  taverns. 
The  races  passed  off  brilliantly.     Col.  Williamson 

^  himsolf,  a  sportsman  of  spirit  and  discretion,  entered 
a  Southern  mare,  named  Virginia  Nell ;  High  Sheriff 
Dunn  entered  Silk  Stocking,  a  New  Jersey  horse — 
quadrupeds  of  renown  even  to  the  present  day.  Money 
wael  plenty,  and  batting  lively.  The  ladies  of  the  two 
dignitaries  who    owned  the  rival  animals,' bet  each 

'*thr6e  hundred  dollars  and  a  pipe  of  wifte  on  the  hordes 

of  their  lords,  or,  as  otherwise  related^  pour«d  seren 

hundred  dollars  into  the  apron  61  a  ihitd  ittdy  who  was 

stake-holder.    Silk  Stocking  was  victorflitiij. '     ♦ "' 

This,  out  most  ancient  festival,  is  tAthet  pictures^tte, 

^seeh  from  the  present  day.    The  arena  opened  in  the 


461 


forest,  the  pines  and  tbe  mountain  around-^the  varie- 
gated multitude  of  wild  men,  tame  men,  rough,  men 
an(^  gentlemen,  form  a  picture  of  our  early  life  worthy 
of  preservation.  Canisteo  was  there,  of  course^  m  high 
spirits,  and  throughout  the  season,  with  self Tsacrificing 
devotion  to  the  ancient,  honorable  and  patriotic  diver- 
sion of  horse^raicing,  seconded,  with  voice  and  arm, 
every  effort  of  Baron  Williamson  to  entertain  the 
OQunt^j's  distinguished  guests.  ,  Young  Canisteo  went 
away  with  mind  inflamed  by  the  spirited  spectacle,  and 
.before  long  introduced  a  higher  grade  pf  sjport  into 
their  own  valley.     A  pioneer  of  that  region,  known  to 

.the  ancients  as  a  youth  of  game  and  a  ^' tamer  of 

Jhorses,"  will,  at  the  present  day,  talk  with  great  satis-^ 
faction  of  a  Jersey  horse,  which  not  only  bore  away 
the  palm  in  the  Canisteo  Races,  but  on  the  Pine  Plains, 
in  the  presence  of  men  from  Washington,  Philadelphia 

•^and  New  York,  (fijTteen  hundred  dollars  being  staked 
on  the  spot  by  the  strangers,)  distanced  the  horse  of  a 
renowned  Virginia  Captain,  who,  being  a  "  perfect 
gentleman,"  invited  the  owner  of  the  victorious  beast 
and  his  friends  to  dinner,  and  swore  that  nothing  was 

f,ever  done  more  handsomely  even  in  the  ancient  domi- 
nion. Bath  and  the  neighborhood  was,  in  those  days, 
the  residence  of  a  sagacious  and  enterprising  race  of 

^sportsmen.  They  not  only  raised  the  Olympic  dust 
freely  at  home,  but  made  excursions  to  foreign  arenas, 
sometimes  discomfiting  the  aliens,  andi  sometimes,  it 
must  be  confessed,  returning  with  confusion  of  face. 
It  is  told  how  a  select  party  of  gentlemen — Judges, 
Generals  and  Captains — once  went  down  to  Ontario 
15* 


162 

Connty  "  to  beat  the  North  ;"  how,  after  the  horses 
had  been  entered,  an  Indian  came  up  and  asked  per- 
mission to  enter  a  sorrj-nag  which  he  brought  with 
hini,  "Which  with  some  jeering  was  granted;  how,  to 
the  general  astonishment,  the  pagan's  quadruped  flew 
off  with  a  "little  Indian  boy  sticking  to  his  back  like 
a  bat,'*  an'd  led  the  crowd  by  a  dozen  rods.  The  ju- 
dicial and  military  gentlemen  straightway  set  out  for 
home,  ^Ji<ih  with  ah  insect  in  his  ear.  The  great  race- 
course was  not  often  used,  during  Williamson's  time, 
fbr  the^ur{)t)se  for  which  it  was  made,  after  the  first 
.grand  festival.  It  was  chiefly  Valuable  as  a  public 
drive  for  the  few  citizens  who  were  so  prosperous  as  to 
keep  chaises.  There  was,  however,  a  course  on  the 
Land  Office  Meadows  south  of  the  village,  which  was 
at  different  times  the  scene  of  sport.  ''^*i  ^^'i 

'  Colonel  Williamson  further  embellished  the  back- 
woods with  a  theatre.  The  building,  which  was  of 
logs,  stood  at  the  corner  of  Steuben  and  Morris  streets. 
A  troop  of  actors  from  Philadelphia,  kept  we  believe, 
at  the  expense  of  the  agents,  entertained  for  a  time 
the  resident  and  foreign  gentry  with  dramatic  exhibi- 
tion of  great  splendor.  Of  these  exhibitions  we  have 
no  very  distinct  account,  but  the  public  eye  was  pro- 
bably dazzled  by  Tartars,  Highlanders,  {Spaniards, 
Brigands,  and  other  suspicious  favorites  of  the  Tragic 
Muse.  The  excellencies  of  the  legitimate  drama  seem 
to  have  been  harmoniously  blended  with  those  of  the 
circus,  and  with  the  exploits  of  sorcery.  We  hear  of  one 
gifted  genius  who  astonished  the  frontiers  by  balancing 
a  row  of  three  tobacco  pipes  on  his  chin,  and  by  other 


163 


nijsterioue  feats  which  fihowed  him  to  be  clearly  in 
league  with  the  psychologists,      'i  f  r^nfJ  > 

The  race  course  and  the  theatre  brought  the  village 
-which  they  adorned  into  bad  odor  with  the  sober  and 
discreet.     Without  intending  to  speak  of  such  institu- 
tions with  more  civility  than  is  their  due,  we  maintain 
that  in  the  present  case  they  brought  upon  the  neigh- 
borhood where  they  existed,  and  upon  the  men  who 
sustained  them,  more  reproach  than  they  merited. 
The  theatrical  exhibitions  were  but  harmless  absurd 
tiffairs  at  worst.     The  races  were  perhaps  more  annoy- 
^  ing  evils.     People  are  certainly  at  liberty  to  think  as 
'  badly  of  l^em  as  they  please,  but  they  should  con- 
sider the  spirit  of  the  times,  the  military  and  Europe- 
an predilections  of  their  founder,   and  also  his  object 
-  in  their  institution  (which  of  course  does  not  of  itself 
change  the  moral  aspect  of  the   matter.)      Colonel 
Williamson  was  inclined  to  hurry  civilization.     The 
**  star  of  empire"  was  too  slow  a  planet  for  him.     He 
wished  to  kindle  a  torch  in  the  darkness,  to  blow  a 
horn  in  the  mountains,  to  shake  a  banner  from  the 
towers,  that  men  might  be  led  by  these  singular  phe- 
nomena to  visit  his  establishment  in  the  wilderness. 
Therefore,  jockeys  were  switching  around  the  mea- 
dows before  the  land  was  insured  against  starvation,  and 
Richard  was  calling  for  *'  another  horse"  before  the 
county  grew  oats  enough  to  bait  him. 

Notwithstanding  the  extenuating  circumstances,  Ba- 
^rdn  Williamson's  village  bore  a  very  undesirable  repu- 
tation abroad — a  reputation  as  of  some  riotous  and 
extravagant  youngster,  who  had  been  driven  as  a 


I.'. 


164 


f 


hopeless  profligate  from  his  father's  house,  and  in  a 
yfWd.  freak  built  him  a  shanty  in  the  woods,  where  he 
could  whoop  and  fire  pistols,  drink,  swear,  fight,  and 
blow  horns  without  disturbing  his  mother  and  sisters. 
This  was  in  a  great  measure  unjvst.  The  main  em- 
;  ployment  of  the  town  was  hard  work.  ^^  H^, couldn't 
bear  to  have  a  lazy  drunken  fellow  around  himj"  says 
an  old  settlor  speaking  of  the  agent,  '^  and  if  any  such 
came  be  sent  him  away."  The  men  of  the  new  country 
were  rough  and  boisterous  it  is  true,  but  also  industri- 
ous and  hardy,  and  out  of  such  we  "  constitute  a 
State."  It  has  often  been  flung  into  our  faces  as  a 
reproach,  that  when  the  first' missionary  viuted  Bath, 
on  a  Sunday  morning,  he  found  a  multitude  assembled 
on  the  public  square  in  three  distinct  groups.  On  one 
side  the  people  were  gambling,  on  another  they  were 
witnessing  a  battle  between  two  bulls,  and  on  a 
third  they  were  watching  a  fight  between  two  bul- 
lies. We  are  happy  to  say  that  the  truth  of  this  ras- 
,  cally  old  tradition  is  more  than  doubtful.  Aside  from 
the  manifest  improbability  that  men  would  play  cards 
while  bulls  were  fighting,  or  that  bulls  would  be  trumps 
while  men  were  fighting,  the  evidence  adduced  in  sup- 
port of  the  legend  is  vague  and  malicious.  To  sup- 
pose that  Colonel  Williamson's  ambition  was  to  bo 
at  the  head  of  a  gang  of  banditti  who  blew  horns, 
pounded  drums,  fought  bulls  and  drank  whiskey  from 
Christmas  to  the  Fourth  of  July,  and  from  the  Fourth 
of  July  around  to  Christmas  again,  is  an  exorcise  of 
the  rights  of  individual  judgment  in  which  those  who 
indulge  themselves  should  not  of  course  be  disturbed. 


# 


165 


It  may  be  true  that  sometimes,  indeed  often,  a  horn 
or  horns  may  have  been  blown  upon  the  Pulteney 
Square,  at  unseasonable  hours  of  the  night,  in  a  man- 
ner not  in  accordance  with  the  maxims  of  the  most 
distinguished  composers ;  it  is  not  impossible  that  a 
drum  or  drums  may  have  been  pounded  with  more  vig- 
or than  judgment  at  times  when  the  safety  of  the  re- 
public, either  from  foreign  foes  or  from  internal  sedi- 
tions, did  not  demand  such  an  expression  of  military 
fervor ;  it  will  not  be  confidently  denied  by  the  cau- 
tious historian  that  once  or  twice,  or  even  three  times, 
a  large  number  of  republicans  may  have  assembled 
on  the  village  common  to  witness  a  battle  between  a 
red  bull  and  a  black  one :  but  from  these  cheerful  eb- 
ulitions  of  popular  humor,  to  jump  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  public  mind  was  entirely  devoted  to  horns, 
drums  and  bulls,  is  a  logical  gymnatic  worthy  of  a 
Congressman.  ;.  .  •  i.    u - 

These  aspersions  upon  the  character  of  the  early 
settlers  as  men  of  honor  and  sobriety,  are  repelled 
with  much  sharpness  by  the  few  survivors.  "  We 
were  poor  and  roagh,"  say  they,  "  but  we-  were  hon- 
est. Vfejit  and  drinked  some  to  be  sure,  but  no  more 
than  everybody  did  in  those  days." 

'^  The  man  that  says  we  were  liars  and  drunkards, 
is  a  liar  himself,  and  tell  him  so  from  TMy  will  you  ? 
There  isn't  half  the  honesty  in  the  land  now  thiHt  there 
was  then.  Oh  !  what  miserably  rogues  you  ure  now. 
You  put  locks  on  your  doors,  and  you  keep  bull  dogs, 
and  th«n  you  can't  keep  the  thieves  ott  of  your  houses 
after  iili!'^  -  ^ 


-M> 


166 


*  *^1  have  Been  them  do  in  Bath  what  ye  wouldn't  do 
the  morrow.  When  a  pack-horse  with  flour  came  from 
Pang  Yang  or  Tioga  Pint,  I  have  seen  the  ladies  carry 
it  around  to  them  that  hadn't  any.    Many  and  many's 


the  time  I  have  seen  the  M- 


's  andlthe  C- 


and 


their  daughters  take  plates  of  flour  and  carry  them 
around  to  every  cabin  where  they  were  needy.  I  have 
seen  it  often,  and  ye  wouldn't  do  the  same  at  Bath  the 
morrow." 

In  like  manner  on  the  Canisteo,  you  hear—**  People 
now,  friend,  ain't  a  comparison  to  those  Ingens.  They 
were  simple  creatures,  and  made  their  little  lodges 
around  by  the  hills,  three  hundred  Ingens  at  a  time, 
and  never  stole  a  thing.  Those  Ingens  came  to  our 
houses,  and  were  around  nights,  and  never  stole  the 
first  rag.  Now,  that's  the  truth,  friend.  They  would 
snap  off  a  pumpkin  now  and  then  perhaps,  or  take  an 
ear  of  corn  to  roast,  but  they  were  just  the  simplest 
and  most  honest  creatures  I  ever  see.  But  now.  Lord ! 
you  can't  hang  up  a  shirt  to  dry  but  it  will  be  stolen." 

Occasionally  there  is  an  expression  of  contempt  at 
the  decay  of  chivalry.  **  There  was  men  enough  then 
that  would  have  knocked  a  fellow  down  if  he  said  Boo, 
It  isn't  half  an  affront  now  to  call  a  man  a  liar  or  a 
rascal.  If  you  whip  an  impudent  dog  of  a  fellow,  you 
get  indicted."  :       '     -' 

Captain  Williamson  further  astonished  the  back- 
woods with  a  newspaper.  In  1796>  the  Bath  Gazette 
and  Genesee  Advertiser  was  published  by  Wm.  Ker- 
sey and  James  Eddie.  This  was  the  earliest  newspaper 
of  Western  New  York, — the  Ontario  Gazette, , of  Ge- 


> 


•  ¥ 


167 


# 


neya,  established  in  the  same  year,  being  the  second. 
We  have  not  had  the  good  fortune  to  find  a  copy  of 
this  ancient  sheet.  Capt.  Williamson,  in  1798,  said, 
**  The  printer  of  the  Ontario  Gazette  disperses  weekly 
not  less  than  one  thousand  papers,  and  the  printer  of 
the  Bath  Gazette  from  four  to  five  hundred."  How 
long  the  latter  artisan  continued  to  disperse  his  five 
hundred  papers  we  are  unable  to  say.  The  candle 
was  probably  a '*  brief  "  one,  and  soon  burned  out, 
leaving  the  land  in  total  darkness,  till  Capt.  Smead's 
Democratic  Torch,  twenty  years  afterwards,  illuminated 
the  whole  county,  and  even  flashed  light  into  the  ob- 
scure hollows  of  Allegany.  Of  this  happy  event  we 
may  take  the  present  opportunity  to  speak. 

In  1816,  Mr.  David  Rumsey  published  at  Bath  the 
'*  Farmers'  Gazette,"  and  Capt.  Benjamin  Smead 
started  at  the  same  place  the  ^*  Steuben  and  Allegany 
Patriot."  This  sheet  is  the  most  unquestionable  an- 
tiquity which  the  County  has  produced.  Though  but 
thirty-five  years  have  elapsed  since  Capt.  Smead 
opened  his  republican  fire  on  the  enemies  of  human 
rights,  (a  fire  which  never  so  much  as  slackened  for 
more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,)  such  have  been  the 
improvements  in  the  art  of  printing  that  in  comparison 
with  the  bright,  clean  country  newspapers  of  1851,  the 
Patriot  looks  rusty  enough  to  have  beeni  the  Court 
Journal  of  that  ancient  monarch.  King  Cole,  if  it  were 
lawful  to  suppose  that  the  editor  would  ever  have  con- 
Bented  to  manage  the  ^^  administration  organ  "  of  such 
a  rampant  old  aristocrat.  The  Patriot  differed  in 
fieverai  important  particulars  from  our  modern  county 


.\ 


168 


} 


'i 


papers.  Geneva,  Olean,  and  Dansville  advertisements 
were  important  features.  The  editorial  matter  was 
brief,  and  the  first  page  was  occupied  with  advertise- 
ments of  sheriflf's  sales  and  the  like,  instead  of  such 
*^  thrilling  thousand  dollar  prize  tales  "  as  "  The  Black 
Burglar  of  Bulgaria,  or  the  Bibliomaniac  of  the 
Jungles,"  and  others  of  like  character,  which  in  our 
modern  home  newspapers  sometimes  crowd  off  even  the 
Treasury  Report  and  elegant  extracts  from  the  leading 
journals.  The  columns  devoted  to  news  would  poorly 
satisfy  the  demand  of  the  present  generation.  We 
think  the  news  cold  if  forty-eight  hours  old,  but  then 
tidings  from  New  York  in  ten  days  almost  smoked, 
and  Washington  items  two  weeks  old  were  fairly  scald- 
ing. The  political  matter  was  also  of  an  ancient  tone. 
There  was  a  little  sparring  between  Observer  and 
Quietis  on  the  one  hand,  and  some  invisible  enemy  on 
the  other  who  dealt  his  blows  under  cover  of  the  On- 
tario Messenger,  The  antiquarian  of  nice  ear  will  also 
detect  antiquity  in  the  rythm  of  caucus  resolutions. 
It  is  comforting  to  the  patriotic  citizen  to  think  how 
much  cheaper  eloquence  is  now  than  formerly :  how 
much  easier  one  can  strike  the  stars  with  his  lofty  head 
from  the  Buffalo  platform,  the  Philadelphia  platform, 
or  the  Baltimore  platform,  than  from  the  Bucktail 
platform  and  other  old-fashioned  scaffolds.  The  style 
of  abuse  which  prevails  at  present  in  school-house  con- 
ventions is  inclined  to  be  rolling  and  magnificent ;  in 
the  days  of  the  old  Patriot  it  was  direct  and  well 
planted,  straight,  short,  and  distinct. 
It  appears  that  even  then  there  was  a  brisk  agita- 

■      '  '  ..  :'...*-" 


^     ;j^'- 

T"^-         T!^ 


(( 


**  169 

tion  about  the  diyision  of  the  County.  Steuben  was  like 
Poland  in  the  clutches  of  the  Three  Powers.  Three 
"  rogues  in  buckram  let  drive  "  at  it, — Penn  Yan  in 
front,  and  Tioga  and  Allegany  in  the  flanks ;  and  like 
a  man  beset  with  thieves,  the  stout  old  County  backed 
against  the  Pennsylvanian  border  and  **  dealt "  by  the 
Patriot  very  efficiently. 

In  the  Patriot  of  Jan.  19, 1819,  occurs  the  following 
proclamation  indicative  of  the  spirit  of  the  times  during 
court  week. 


4tkXZ.&ai  i;.y  i.'/i.j/ti 


GRAND  HUNT. 


A  Hunting  Party  will  be  formed  for  the  purpose  of 
killing  wolves,  bears,  foxes,  panthers,  &c.,  to  commence 
on  the  20th  of  January,  at  7  o'clock  A.  M.,  and  will 
close  the  same  day  at  8  P.  M. 

This  being  the  week  of  the  sitting  of  the  court,  gen- 
tlemen from  towns  of  this  vicinity  are  invited  to  meet 
at  Capt.  Bull's  Hotel  at  7  o'clock,  on  Friday  the  15th 
inst.,  to  aid  in  completing  arrangements  for  conducting 
the  grand  hunt. 
,     Bath,  Jan.  12, 1819. 

Capt.  Howell  Bull, 
:  Appointed  Commanding  Officer  of  the  day." 

^.«<«^.<4    ^f4l   >('     THE  BAR,  COURT,  &C. 

The  year  1796  is  furthermore  a  memorable  one  in 

our  annals,  for  that  in  the  said  year  was  organized  that 

wrangling  brotborhood,  the  Steuben  County  Bar.    A 

few  stragglmg  biTds  of  the  legal  f«ather  had  alighted 

16 


170  * 

on  the  Pine  Plains  in  the  preceding  year,  but  were  not 
recognized  as  constituting  a  distinct  and  independent 
confederacy.  These  adventurous  eaglea  however  found 
themselves  in  1796  released  from  allegiance  to  the 
Ontario  Bar  by  the  act  organizing  Steuben  County, 
and  thenceforth  confederated  for  the  more  systematic 
indulgence  of  their  instincts,  under  the  name  and 
style  of  the  Steuben  County  Bar, 

A  framed  court  house,  and  a  jail  of  hewn  logs  was 
erected  for  the  furtherance  of  justice,  and  in  the  former 
of  these  edifices  the  first  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  held 
in  and  for  the  County  of  Steuben,  convened  on  the  21st 
day  of  June,  1796. 

The  Honorable  William  KTsey  was  the  presiding 
Judge.  Judge  Kersey  was  a  grave  and  dignified 
Friend  from  Philadelphia.  He  came  to  Steuben  as  a 
surveyor,  and  practised  that  profession,  and  performed 
the  duties  of  Lord  High  Chancellor  of  the  county  for 
several  years,  when  he  returned  to  Pennsylvania, 
greatly  esteemed  by  the  people  whom  he  judged. 
Abraham  Bradley,  and  Eleazer  Lindley,  Esqs.,  of 
Painted  Post,  were  the  Associate  Judges.  '^* 

^^Proclamation  made,  and  court  opened,"  says  the 
record.  '^ Proelamatiop  made  for  silence;  commis- 
sions to  the  Judges,  Justices,  Sherifi^,  Coroner  and 
Surrogate  read  ;  George  Hornell,  Uriah  Stephens  and 
Abel  White  were  qualified  as  Justices  of  the  Peace , 
Stephen  Ross  as  Surrogate."     ..    .  ^,^^  ;.^ 

The  following  attorneys  and  counsellors  appt.  red  in 
due  form.  Nathaniel  W.  Howell,  (late  of  Canandai- 
gua,)  Vincent  Mattl^ews,  (late  of  Rochester,)  William 


•* 


mi 


Stuart,  (who  presented  *■  letters  patent  under  the 
great  seal  of  this  State,  constituting  hiin  Assistant 
Attorney  General,  [District  Attorney,]  for  the  counties 
of  Onondaga^  Ontario,  Tioga  and  Steuben,")  "tVm. 
B.  Verplanck,  David  Jones,  Peter  Masterton,  Thomas 
Morris,  Stephen  Ross,  David  Powers. 

The  first  Court  of  General  Sessions  Was  held  in 
1796.  In  addition  to  the  Judges  mentioned  in  the 
Record  of  the  Common  Pleas,  oflfenders  against  the 
people  encountered  the  following  array  of  Justices  of 
the  Peace.  John  Knox,  William  Lee,  Frederick 
Bartles,  George  Hornell,  Eli  Mead,  Abel  White, 
Uriah  Stephens,  Jr.  •  "^'^  <.i^*i.<.i  .!».  i/vi^■.»<'.*J-  -li..  ,  ..».'»» 

The  first  Grand  Jury  was  composed  of  the  following 
citizens  :-^-John  Sheather,  Foreman ;  Charles  Cameron, 
George  McClure,  John  Cooper,  Samuel  Miller,  Isaac 
Mullender,  John  Stearns,  Justus  Woolcott,  John 
Coudry,  John  Van  Devanter,  Alexander  Fuller  ton, 
Amariah  Hammond,  John  Seely,  Samuel  Shannon. 
This  jury  presented  two  indictments  for  assault  and 
battery,  and  were  thereupon  discharged. 

General  McClure  makes  of  the  early  members  of 
the  bar  the  following  notice.  "  I  will  mention  as  a 
very  extraordinary  circumstance,  that  although  our 
new  settlement  consisted  of  emigrants  from  almost  all 
nations,  kindred  and  tongues,  yet  not  a  single  gentle- 
men of  the  legal  profession  made  his  appearance 
amongst  us  during  the  first  two  years.  However,  had 
they  come,  we  had  not  much  employment  for  them  in 
their  line  of  business,  as  all  our  litigations  were  settled 
by  compromise,  or  by  the  old  English  law  of  battle, 


! 


II 


172 

and  all  decisions  were  final.  In  our  code  there  was 
no  appellant  jurisdiction.  In  the  following  year  we 
had  a  full  supply,  shortly  after  the  organization  of 
Steuben  County. 

The  first  arrival  was  George  D.  Cooper,  of  Rhine- 
beck,  on  the  North  River.  He  was  appointed  the  first 
Clerk  of  the  County.  The  next  arrivals  were  Messrs. 
Jones,  Masterton  and  Stuart,  from  New  York.  Next 
William  Howe  Cuyler,  from  Albany.  Mr.  Cuyler  was 
a  fine  portly  elegant  young  man  of  very  fashionable 
and  fascinating  manners,  of  the  Chesterfield  order.  In 
1812,  General  Amos  Hall  appointed  him  aid.de-camp^ 
and  while  stationed  at  Black  Rock  he  was  killed  by  a 
cannon  ball  from  Fort  Erie.  Major  Cuyler  was  a  very 
active  intelligent  officer,  and  his  death  was  much  la- 
mented.    He  left  a  young  wife  and  one  son. 

Next  in  order  came  Dominick  Theophilus  Blake, 
one  of  the  sons  of  Erin-go-bragh,  He  was  a  well 
educated  young  man,  but  his  dialect  and  manner  of 
speech  afforded  much  amusement  for  the  other  mem- 
bers of  the  bar.  He  had  but  little  practice  and  did 
not  remain  long  with  us,  but  whore  he  went  and  what 
becaine  of  him,  I  never  have  heard. 

Samuel  S.  Haight,  Esq.,  moved  from  Newtown  with 
his  family  to  Bath.  Gen.  Haight  had  an  extensive 
practice,  and  a  numerous  and  interesting  family  of 
sons  and  daughters.  He  is  yet  living,  and  resides  in 
the  county  of  Allegany.  Daniel  Cruger,  William  B. 
Rochester,  William  Woods,  Henry  Welles  and  Henry 
W.  Rogers,  members  of  the  Steuben  County  Bar, 


173 


studied  law  in  Mr.  Haight's  office.  Edward  Howell, 
Esq.,  of  Bath,  studied  law  in  Gen.  Cruger's  office.     . 

Gen.  Vincent  Matthews  resided  for  many  years  ih 
Bath.  He  was  said  to  be  at  the  head  of  the  bar  for 
legal  knowledge,  but  was  not  much  of  an  advocate. 
Judge  Edwards,  Schuyler  Strong,  Jonas  Clark,  Jona- 
than Haight,  John  Cook,  and  Leland  and  McMaster, 
are  all  that  I  can  remember  of  the  old  stock.  Ah,  yes ! 
there's  one  more  of  my  old  friends — Cuthbert  Harri- 
son, a  Virginian,  a  young  man  of  good  sense,  and  whe- 
ther drunk  or  sober,  he  was  a"  good  natured  clever 
fellow." 

Mr.  Cuthbert  Harrison  is  described  as  a  young  man 
of  fine  talents,  and  one  of  the  most  eloquent  advocates 
in  the  western  part  of  the  State. 

Gen.  Daniel  Cruger,  for  a  long  time  a  leading  mem- 
ber of  the  bar  and  an  influential  politician,  was  a 
printer  by  trade.  He  worked  in  the  office  of  the  old 
Bath  Gazette,  before  the  year  1800.  Afterwards  he 
published  a  newspaper  in  OwegOt  Adopting  the  legal 
profession,  he  practised  with  success  at  Bath.  In 
1712,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  and 
chosen  Speaker  of  the  House.  After  this  he  was 
chosen  representative  in  the  same  body  for  three  suc- 
cessive years.  In  1813,  he  served  with  credit  as  Major 
of  Infantry,  under  Gen.  McClure,  on  the  frontiers. 
In  1816,  he  was  elected  Member  of  Congress.  In  1823, 
or  about  that  time,  he  was  again  sent  to  the  Legisla- 
ture. He  afterwards  removed  to  Syracuse,  returned 
to  Bath,  and  in  1833,  removec'    ^  Virginia,  where  he 

continued  in  the  practice  of  the  law  until  his  death,  in 
16* 


♦  174 

1843.  Gen.  Cruger,  under  the  judicial  system  of 
New  York,  was  once  Assistant  Attorney  General,  or 
District  Attorney,  of  the  district  composed  of  the 
counties  of>  Allegany,  Steuhen,  Tioga,  Broome  and 
others.  After  the  abolition  of  this  system,  he  was 
District  Attorney  of  the  county  of  Steuben. 

Of  the  early  Physicians  of  the  county,  we  have  not 
much  to  say.  Dr.  Stockton,  of  New  Jersey,  and  Dr. 
Schultz,  a  German,  came  in  with  Capt.  Williamson, 
and  were  the  most  prominent  of  the  pioneer  physicians. 
The  surgeon,  in  ancient  times,  lived  a  rough  life.  His 
ride  was  through  forests  without  roads,  across  rivers 
without  bridges,  over  hills  without  habitations.  Bears 
rose  up  before  his  startled  steed  as  he  rode  at  dusk 
through  the  beechen  groves  of  the  uplands,  and  wolves, 
made  visible  by  the  lightning,  hung  around  him  as  he 
groped  through  the  hemlocks  in  the  midnight  storm, 
and  insanely  lusted  for  the  contents  of  his  saddle-bags. 


■  i-  tii 


•«  i4j' 

i        ■  'st-lrt 

9  k     .i:,'MiH 

:  4    rji 

'-i     i-i    f  i^M     ,U4**i    OJ 

n'i  ,'hmv  :u,; 

.,:.itf  iTRi  -iiy           .:-; 

>..           '    fff  i^olfltjlll-  -j 

I      :' 


it: 


.]*->^'^ 


f;  \ .; . 


CHAPTER  VII. 


SKETCHES  OF  THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  VARIOUS  DISTRICTS. 


m 

iisi 


PLEASANT   VALLEY — (toWN    OF    URBANA.) 


The  settlement  in  tbat  well  known  prolongation  of 
the  bed  of  Crooked  Lake,  famed  as  Pleasaiit  Valley, 
was  the  first  made  under  the  auspices  of  Captain  Wil- 
liamson, and  was  for  many  years  the  most  prosperous 
and  one  of  the  most  important  in  the  county.  The 
soil  was  exceedingly  productive,  and  yielded  not  only 
an  abundance  for  the  settlers,  but  furnished  much  of 
the  food  by  which  the  inhabitants  of  the  hungry  Pine 
Plains  were  saved  from  starvation.  For  the  young 
settlers  in  various  parts  of  the  county,  the  employment 
afforded  by  the  bountiful  fields  of  the  valley  during 
haying  and  harvest,  was  for  many  years  an  important 
assistance.  In  the  midst  of  pitiless  hills  and  forests 
that  clung  to  their  treasures  like  misers.  Pleasant 
Valley  was  generous  and  free-handed — ^yielding  fruit, 
grain  and  grass  with  marvellous  prodigality. 

The  first  settlers  of  Pleasant  Valley  were  William 
Aulls  and  Samuel  Baker.  Mr.  Aulls,  previous  to  the 
year  1793,  was  living  in  the  Southern  part  of  Penn- 
sylvania. In  the  spring  of  1793,  he  made  the  first 
clearing  and  built  the  first  house  in  the  valley.     In 


176 


the  autamn  of  the  same  year  he  brought  up  his  family. 
The  house  which  he  built  stood  on  the  farm  now  occu- 
pied by  John  Powers,  Esq. 

Samuel  Baker  was  a  native  of  Bradford  County,  in 
Connecticut.  When  15  years  of  age,  he  was  taken 
prisoner  by  a  party  of  Burgoyne's  Indians,  and  re- 
mained with  the  British  army  in  captivity  till  relieved 
by  the  Surrender  at  Saratoga.  After  this  event  he 
enlisted  in  Col.  Willett's  corps,  and  was  engaged  in 
the  pursuit  and  skirmish  at  Canada  Creek,  in  which 
Captain  Walter  Butler,  (a  brother  to  the  noted  Col. 
John  Butler,)  a  troublesome  leader  of  the  Tories  in  the 
border  wars  of  this  State,  was  shot  and  tomahawked 
by  the  Oneidas.  In  the  spring  of  1787,  he  went  alone 
into  the  West,  passed  up  the  Tioga,  and  built  a  cabin 
on  the  open  flat  between  the  Tioga  and  Cowenisque, 
at  their  junction.  He  was  the  first  settler  in  the  valley 
of  the  Tioga.  Harris,  the  trader,  was  at  the  Painted 
Post,  and  his  next  neighbor  was  Col.  Handy,  on  the 
Chemung,  below  Big  Flats.  Of  beasts,  he  had  but  a 
cow,  of  "  plunder,"  the  few  trifling  articles  that  would 
suffice  for  an  Arab  or  an  A^apaho;  but  like  a  true  son 
of  Connecticut,  he  readily  managed  to  live  through  the 
summer,  planted  with  a  hoe  a  patch  of  corn  on  the 
flats,  and  raised  a  good  crop.  Before  autumn  lie  was 
joined  by  Captain  Amos  Stone,  a  kind  of  Hungarian 
exile.  Captain  Stone  had  been  out  in  "  Shay's  War," 
and  dreading  the  vengeance  of  the  government,  he 
sought  an  asylum  under  the  southern  shadow  of  Steu- 
ben County,  where  the  wilderness  was  two  hundred 
miles  deep,  and  where  the  Marshal  would  not  care  to 


mily.    ^. 
occu- 


17T 

▼enture,  even  when  backed  by  the  great  seal  of  the 
Republic.  On  Christnms  day  of  1786,  Mr.  Baker 
leaving  Captain  Stone  in  his  cabin,  went  down  the 
Tioga  on  the  ice  to  Newtown  as  previously  mentioned,* 
and  thence  to  Hudson,  where  his  family  was  living. 
At  the  opening  of  the  rivers  in  the  spring,  he  took  his 
family  down  the  Susquehanna  to  Tioga  Point  in  a 
canoe.  A  great  freshet  prevented  him  from  moving 
up  the  Chemung  for  many  days,  and  leaving  his  family, 
he  struck  across  the  hills  to  see  how  his  friend  Captain 
Stone  fared.  On  reaching  the  bank  of  the  river  oppo- 
site his  cabin,  not  a  human  being  was  to  be  seen,  ex- 
cept an  Indian  pounding  corn  in  a  Samp-mortar.  Mr. 
Baker  supposed  that  his  friend  had  been  murdered  by 
the  savages,  and  he  lay  in  the  bushes  an  hour  or  two 
to  watch  the  movements  of  the  red  miller,  who  proved, 
after  all,  to  be  only  a  very  good-natured  sort  of  a  Man- 
Friday,  for  at  length  the  Captain  came  along  driving 
the  cow  by  the  bank  of  the  river.  Mr.  Baker  hailed 
him,  And  he  spraag  into  the  air  with  delight.  Cap- 
tain Stone  had  passed  the  winter  without  seeing  a 
white  man.  His  Man-Friday  stopped  thumping  at 
the  Samp-mortar,  and  the  party  had  a  very  agreeable 
re-union. 

Mr.  Baker  brought  his  family  up  from  Tioga  Point, 
and  lived  here  six  years.     During  that  time  the  pion- 
eer advance  had  penetrated  the  region  of  which  the 
lower  Tioga  Valley  is  a  member.    A  few  settlers  had 
-established  themselves  on  the  valley  below  them,  and 


I 


*  Chapter  2. 


178 

around  the  Painted  Post  were  gathered  a  few  cabins 
where  now  are  the  termini  of  railroads — the  gate  of  a 
C04I  and  lumber  trade,  bridges,  mills  and  machinery. 
Elsewhere  all  was  wilderness.  The  region,  however, 
bad  been  partially  explored  by  surveyors  and  hunters. 
Benjamin  Patterson,  while  employed  as  hunter  for  a 
party  of  surveyors,  discovered  the  deep  and  beautiful 
valley  which  extends  from  the  Crooked  Lake  to  the 
Conhocton.  Seen  from  the  brink  of  the  uplands,  there 
is  hardly  a  more  picturesque  landscape  in  the  county, 
or  one  which  partakes  more  strongly  of  the  character 
of  mountain  scenery.  The  abrupt  wooded  wall  on 
either  side,  the  ravines  occasionally  opening  the  flank 
of  the  hills,  the  curving  valley  that  slopes  to  the  lake 
on  one  hand,  and  meets  the  blue  Conhocton  range  on 
the  other,  form  at  this  day  a  pleasing  picture.  But 
to  the  hunter,  leaning  on  his  rifle  above  the  sudden 
declivity — before  the  country  had  been  disfigured  with 
a  patchwork  of  farms  and  forest — the  bed  of  the  val- 
ley was  like  a  river  of  trees,  and  the  gulf,  from  which 
now  rise  the  deadly  vapors  of  a  steam  sawmill,  seemed 
like  a  creek  to  pour  its  tributary  timber  into  the 
broader  gorge  below.  * 

In  his  wanderings  the  hunter  occasionally  stopped 
at  the  cabins  of  Tioga,  and  brought  report  of  this  fine 
valley*  Mr.  Baker  did  not  hold  a  satisfactory  title  to 
his  Pennsylvania  farm,  and  was  inclined  to  emigrate. 
Capt.  Williamson  visited  his  house  in  1792,  (probably 

*  Hiis  view,  and  the  prospects  from  the  South  Hill  of  Bath,  and 
the  summit  of  the  Turnpike  between  Howard  Flatts  and  Hornells- 
ville,  are  among  the  finest  in  the  county. 


pr 
8h 
co: 
in 


179 

while  exploring  the  Lycoming  Road,)  and  promised 
him  a  farm  of  any  shape  or  size,  (land  in  New  York, 
previous  to  this,  could  only  he  hought  hy  the  town- 
ship,) wherever  he  should  locate  it.  Mr.  Baker  ac- 
cordingly selected  a  farm  of  some  three  hundred  acres 
in  Pleasant  Valley — huilt  a  house  upon  it  itx  the  au- 
tumn of  1793}  and  in  the  following  spring  removed  his 
family  from  the  Tioga.  He  resided  here  till  his  death 
in  1842,  at  the  age  of  80.  He  was  several  years  As- 
sociate and  First  Judge  of  the  County  Court.  Judge 
Baker  was  a  man  of  a  strong  practical  mind,  and  of 
correct  and  sagacious  ohservation. 

Before  1795,  the  whole  valley  was  occupied.  Be- 
ginning with  Judge  Baker's  farm,  the  next  farm 
towards  the  lake  was  occupied  hy  Capt.  Amos  Stone, 
the  next  hy  William  AuUs,  the  next  hy  Ephraim 
AuUs,  the  next  by  James  Shether.  Crossing  the  val- 
ley, the  first  farm  (where  now  is  the  village  of  Ham- 
mondspost,)  was  occupied  by  Capt.  John  Shether,  the 
next  by  Eli  Read,  the  next  by  William  Barney,  the 
next  by  Richard  Daniels.  Nearly  all  of  these  had 
been  soldiers  of  the  revolution.  Capt.  Shether  had 
been  an  active  officer,  and  was  engaged  in  several  bat- 
tles. Of  him.  Gen.  McClure  says : — "  He  was  Cap- 
tain of  Dragoons,  and  had  the  reputation  of  being  an 
excellent  officer  and  a  favorite  of  Gen.  Washington. 
He  lived  on  his  farm  at  the  head  of  Crooked  Lake  in 
good  style,  and  fared  sumptuously.  He  was  a  gener- 
ous, hospitable  man,  and  a  true  patriot."  The  Sher 
thers  were  from  Connecticut. 


180 


I 


Judge  William  Read  was  a  Rhode  Island  Quaker. 
He  settled  a  few  years  after  the  revolution  on  the 
'*  Squatter  lands  "  above  Owego,  and,  being  ejected, 
moved  westward  with  his  household  after  the  manner 
of  the  times.  Indians  pushed  the  family  up  the  river  in 
canoes,  while  the  men  drove  the  cattle  along  the  trail 
on  the  bank.  Judge  Read  was  a  man  of  clear  head 
and  strong  sense,  of  orderly  and  accurate  business 
talent,  and  was  much  relied  upon  by  his  neighbors  to 
make  crooked  matters  straight. 

The  Cold  Spring  Valley  was  occupied  by  Gen.  Mc- 
Clure  in  1 802,  or  about  that  time.  He  erected  mills, 
and  kept  them  in  activity  till  1814,  when  Mr.  Henry 
A.  Townsend  entered  into  possession  of  the  valley,  and 
resided  in  the  well  known  Cold  Spring  House  till  his 
death  in  1839.  Mr.  Townsend  removed  from  Orange 
County,  in  this  State,  to  Bath  in  1796.  He  was 
County  Clerk  from  1799  to  1814 — the  longest  tenure 
in  the  catalogue  of  county  officers. 

Mr.  Lazarus  Hammond  removed  from  Dannsville  to 
Cold  Spring  in  1810,  or  about  that  time,  and  after- 
wards resided  near  Crooked  Lake  till  his  death.  He 
was  Sheriff  of  the  county  in  1814,  and,  at  a  recent 
period.  Associate  Judge  of  the  County  Court. 


?f4 


FREDERICKTON. 


At  the  organization  of  the  county,  all  that  territory 
which  now  forms  the  towns  of  Tyrone,  Wayne,  Read- 
ing, in  Steuben  County,  and  the  towns  of  Barrington 
and  Starkey,  in  Yates,  was  erected  into  the  town  of 


181 


,-!'-^y-i 


Frodcricktou.  The  name  was  given  in  honor  of  Fre- 
derick Bartles,  a  German,  who  emigrated  with  his 
family  from  New  Jersey,  in  1793,  or  about  that  time, 
and  located  himself  at  the  outlet  of  Mud  Lake,  at  the 
place  known  far  and  wide  in  early  days  as  Bartks* 
Hollow.  He  erected  under  the  patronage  of  Captain 
Williamson  a  flouring  and  saw  mill.*  General 
McClure  says  of  him,  *'  Mr.  Bartles  was  appointed  a 
Justice  of  the  Peace.  He  w^as  an  intelligent,  generous 
and  hospitable  man.  His  mill-pond  was  very  large, 
covering  about  one  thousand  acres  of  land,  and  was 
filled  with  fish,  such  as  pike,  suckers,  perch  and  eels, 
which  afiforded  a  great  deal  of  sport  for  the  Bath  gen- 
tlemen in  the  fishing  season.  Such  parties  of  pleasure 
were  entertained  by  Squire  Bartles,  free  of  costs  or 
charges,  and  in  the  best  style.  We  fared  sumptuously, 
and  enjoyed  the  company  of  the  old  gentleman.  He 
possessed  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  pleasant  and  inter- 
esting anecdote.  His  dialect  was  a  mixture  of  Dutch 
and  English,  and  was  very  amusing." 
[  Bartles'  Hollow,  in  the  days  of  Captain  Williamson, 
was  thought  a  spot  of  great  importance.  Mud  Creek 
was  then  a  navigable  stream,  and  it  was  thought  that 
the  commerce  of  Mud  Lake  and  its  outlet  would  re- 
quire a  town  of  considerable  magnitude   at  the  point 

*  Benjamin  Pattersoi  was  employed  by  Captain  W.  to  supply  the 
workmen  with  wild  meat  while  the  mill  was  building.  He  was  paid 
two  dollars  a  day,  and  allowed  the  skins  of  the  animalskilled.  He  kill- 
ed at  this  time  on  "  Green  Hill"  nearly  an  hundred  deer  and  several 
bears  in  three  months,  and  his  companion  a  hunter,  named  Broober, 
destroyed  nearly  as  many. 

17 


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vthere  Squire  Bartles  had  established  himsejf.  In  the 
specttlatiDg  summer  of  1706  the  proprietor  was  offered 
enormous  prices  for  his  hollow,  but  he  declined  to  part 
with  it.  In  1798  Mr.  Bartles  rafted  one  hundred  thou- 
sand feet  of  boards  from  his  mills  to  Baltimore.  In 
1800  he  ran  two  arks  from  the  same  place ;  of  which 
adventure  the  following  minute  was  entered  by  the 
County  Clerk,  in  Vol.  1,  of  Records  of  Deeds  :^,  ^^^ 

^*  Steuben  County. — This  fourth  day  of  April,  one 
tliousand  eight  hundred,  started  from  the  mills  of 
Frederick  Bartles,  on  the  outlet  of  Mud  Lake,  (Fred- 
erickstown,)  two  arks  of  the  following  dimensions: — 
One  built  by  Col.  Charles  Williamson,  of  Bath,  72 
feet  long  and  15  feet  wide ;  the  other  built  by  Nathan 
Harvey,  71  feet  long,  and  15  feet  wide,  were  conducted 
dof  n  the  Conhocton,  (after  coming  through  Mud  Creek 
without  any  accident,)  to  Painted  Post  for  Baltimore. 
Those  arks  are  the  firdt  built  in  this  cotinty,  except 
one  built  on  the  Conhocton  at  White's  saw-mil]!,  five 
miles  below  Bath,  by  a  Mr.  Patterson,  ^vieeiif'  anii 
others^  froip  P6hna.,  70  feet  long,  and'  l6,wid^,  was 
finished  skhd  (Started  about  the  20th .  of  'Mtirch  the 


same  year. 

This  minute  is  entered  to  show  at  a  futtir^  clay  the 
first  conimencement  of  embarkation  in  this  (as  U 
liPP^)  useful  invention.  ,r>,  n'M'^iH-f  iii.n  M.j«a  * 

L.icq a«/f  'fk    /<t/tfyit«^  By    HeNRY  A.  TOWNSEND,  :'>hr;i^-)f 

-iliiall  .MiiA'-Mmmmi^^i^ma*  d^y^  ,jf  SteubCh  Co."'*'"' 
The  success  6f  Squire  Bartles'  arks  produced  as 

n 


.--'iU 


183 


■y  •*-» 


the  tnumph  of  uc 


great  a  sensation  in  t^e  county  as  tne  tnumpb  ot  tne 
**  Collins  steamships"  has  created  in  our  day ;  but 
craft  of  this  species  have  long  been  abandoned  by  our 
lumbermen.  Mud  Creek  has  failed  since  the  clearing 
of  the  forests,  and  the  produce  of  the  Mud  Lake  country 
seeks  the  eastern  market  by  canals  and  railroads.     , 

Among  the  early  residents  in  the  town  of  Bradford 
were  Henry  Switzer,  Samuel  S.  Camp,  Abram  Rosen* 
bury,  Henry  Switzer,  senior,  Thomas  Rolls,  Michael . 
Scott,   Daniel   Bartholomew  and   Captain  John    N. 
Hight. 

General  William  Kernan,  of  County  Kavan,  in  Ire-, 
land,  was  the  first  settler  in  that  part  of  the  old  town 
of  Fredericktown,  which  is  now  the  town  of  Tyrone. , 
He  settled  in  1800  upon  a  lot,  in  a  tract  of  4000  acreB,^ 
which  had  been  purchased  of  Low  &  Harrison,  by  Mr^i^. 
Thomas  O'Connor  of  tho  County  of  Roscommon  in 
Ireland.    Mr.  O'Connor  proposed  to  settle  a  colony  of 
his  countrymen  on  this  tract.     He  himself  lived  for  a 
time  in  a  log-house  on  the  hill  by  Little  Lake,  above 
tbe  farm  now  occupied  by  Gen.  Kernan.     Two  chil<*  r. 
dren,  a  son  and  daughter,  accompanied  him  in  his  so- 
journ in  the  woods.  The  former  is  now  Charles  O'Cod^j 
nor,  Esq.,  the  eminent  lawyer  of  New  York  pity^i    Af, 
large  number  of  Irish  Emigrants  settled  on  the.p'CSon-  ^. 
nor  tract,  but  after  a  few  seasons  abjandone^.  their  imr^  .^ 
provements— being  discouraged  at :  the  labor  of  clears  r 
ing  the  land,  and  discontented  at  the  want  of  religious'  ■ 
advantages  according  tp,  Ijhe  practice  of  the  Roman 
i  Catholic. PteQh*,Gea*^erna?i  alqne  remained  on  the-: 
tract. 

■  ■■it*':  ■       ^  -• 


184 


Other  early  settlers  of  the  town  of  Tyrone  were 
Benjamin  Sackett,  Abram  Fleet,  sen.,  Gersham  Ben-, 
nett,  Thaddeus   Bennett,  Abram  Bennett,  Jonathan, 
Townsend,  Capt.  John  Sebring. 

Elder  Ephralm  Sanford,  Josiah  Bennett,  Solomon 
Wixon,  Josiah  Bennett,  Joshua  Smith,  John  Teeples, 
Simeon  Sackett,  John  Sackett,  sen.,  and  John  Wood- 
ard,   were  among  the  early  settlers  of  the  town  of, 
Wayne,  in  1800  or  1803.     It  seems,  however,  that 
this  township  was  settled  several  years  before.    Judge 
Dow,  of  Reading,  says,  "  I  think  it  was  in  the  fall  of 
1791, 1  went  to  view  land  in  township  No.  5,  second 
range,  (niow  Wayne).     At  that  time  two  families  only 
were  there,  Henry  Mapes  and  Zebulon  Huff.     I  went  * 
to  the  same  place  again  in  1794,  and  learned  that 
Solomon  Wixon,  with  a  large  family,  two  of  the  name 
of  Silsbee,  two  or  three  Sandfords  and  others  had  set-  , 
tied  there."  "    ' 

Judge  Dow  settled  near  the  present  village  of  Read 
ing  Centre,  in  1798.  David  Culver  followed  him  ia ' 
1800.  Other  early  settlers  of  the  towns  of  Reading ' 
and  Starkey  who  came  from  1800  to  1804,  or  about,' 
that  time,  were  William  Eddy,  Abner  Hurd,  Timothy  .* 
Hurd^  Simeon  Royce,  Matthew  Royce,  Reuben  Hen-  '- 
derson,.  Andrew  Booth,  Samuel  Gustin,  John  Bruce, '| 
and  SatDluel  Shoemaker.  Among  others  who  settled'^ 
about  the  year  1806,  were  John  and  James  Roberts,  ' 
Daniel  Shaniion,  Caleb  Fulkerson,  Richard  Latiniiig,'^ 
George  Plumer,  and  Andrew  McDowell.  '  ^,''^ 

Judge  Dow  having  been  consulted  by  the  writer  6f  *' 
this  sketch  with  re^rd  to  a  supposed  inaccuracy  in 


1 


:i 


186 


d 


Lake  as  extending 


the  outline  oif:  Seneca  Lake  on  an  old  map,  gave  him  , 
a  few  notes, of'^he  settlement  of  the  countr^^  which  are 
as  follows  :  ^m  . 

^*  I  left  Connecticut  and  came  to  th^  head  of  $eneca 
Lake  in  April,  1789,  and  stayed  there,  and  at  the 
Friends'  Settlement  until  late  in  the  fall,  then,  after  r 
being  away  a  few  months,  returned  to  the  head  of  th0-| 
'Seneca  Lake  in  March,  1790,  and  continued  to  reside  • 
there  and  at  the  place  where  I  now  reside  until  the 
present  time.    The  Friends  (Jemima  Wilkinson's  fol- ;  ^ 
lowers)  made  their  settlement  in  1788  and  1789,  but. ^, 
between, tkem  and  the  head  of  the  lake,  a  distance  of 
20  miles,  it  was  not  settled  till  the  time  abovA  men- 
tioned (1798).  ' 

'*  The  map  represents  the  Seneca 
south  to  Catharine's  Town.  This  is  not  correct. 
There  were  Indian  clearings  at  the  Head  and  at  Catha- 
rine {ixstlio  two  places  were  familiarly  called)  when 
white  people  came  there  in  1789.  There  was  a  marsh 
but  a  little  higher  than  the  level  of  the  lake  extending 
from  the  beach  of  the  lake,  up  south,  nearly  to  Catha- 
rines, and  quite  across  the  valley,  excepting  a  tract  of 
tillable  land  lying  between  the  northern  part  of  said 
mar^h  and  ihe  west  hill,  and  extending  south  from  tl^e 
beacn  albbiit  one-half  or  three-fourths  of  ^  mile  to  a  j 
part  of  said  marsh.  This  land  was  called  the  Flat  at 
the  Head  on  which  David  Culver  and  myself  resided. 
This  flat  was  the  true  locality  of  the  CtUverstown  of 
theiiiap  and  the  village  of  Culter*s  of  the  bodk,'  lahy.  ^ 
thing  to  the  CQntr«k)ry  notwithstanding.  .i^i 

**  The  rams  and  the  melting  of  the  dnow  raised  the 
17* 


ii4 


186 


lake  some  every  spring  about  tl^at  time,  (1790),  and. 
tbe  grea.te8t  part  of  the  marsh  was  covered  With  water.' 
A  stranger  might  possibly  mark  ^own  ihe  marsh  for 
part  of  the  lake.  i  i  V 

"I  saw  Caleb  Gardner  in  1789,  who  said  he  lived  ■ 
at  Big  Flatts,  and  undisrstood.  from  him  that  otheri^ 
had  settled  there.     In  the  spring  of  1790  I  saw  CoL  , 
Erwin  at  Chfemung,  who  with  one  or  t^Q  men  wae  driv-  j^. 
ins  some  cattle  to  hid  son's  at  Painted  Post.     The,' 
lands  along  ^achside  of  Catharine  Valley  were  not  set- 
tled, I  think,  till  1798  or  1799.     People  then  came '  ■ 
and  settled,  three,  four,  and  five  miles  southeast  of  , 
Catharine's.    This  place  w^as  called  Johnson's  Settfe-'^. 
ment.     Oh  the  lands  west  of  the  valley  seltlementsr 
were  made  probably  about  the  same  time  or  soon  after. 

'^  When  I  first  came  to  Newtown  Point  as  it  was 


■<>?. 


theti  called  (now  Elmira)  there  were  but  few  houses  in  .'. 
that  plkce.     There  were  six  or  seven  on  the  road  and. 
at  Horse-heads.     Further  on  were  two  liouses,  but  ai. 
that  time  I  think  they  were  not.  occupied.!  Thiere  was   , 
one  house  within  about  a  mile  of  Cath^ihe;  there  ^ 
were  two  or  three  in  CatbariheV&nd  two  or  three  on. 
the  flat  at  the  h^ad  Of  Seneca  Lalce.  j  am  pretty  sure . . 
thes6  were  all  the  h6uses  that  hadbeieh  built,  at  t^ait' 
tim^  tApril  1789^  at  Nowtown,  at  tHe  head  of  the*  , 
lakfe  ahd  bet.Ween  the  two  places.",  " 


Ui  iui 


\ 


U   irJliJJJ  t'i/ff   »"/iii..   r.nii        tllf.irAil   i-U;*!   \<i   )'II5f[ 

ill  iiiii jiw  no  hh^\  ;i>V^ 

11  ;♦      ^.Jf    :>f.-y    J(!|>    ^'n'f 

[Mpipt^pf  jtbe  focU  Qontaiii«4  in  the  foUowipl;  bketfl^  p|,the(f«tt}«^if  t 
of  the  town  of  Prattsburgh,  are  derived  fi;o^,  ft  ^^f^\^fcq■^f^^lJ 

•y  of  that  town  prepared  by  Samuel  HoitEy^in,  1^'q.,  of  Fredb* 

■■   ■  ■  ■     .  i.,:   ■;;iJ  IMIii  hinr-i  On  i   " 


ment 
history 


'Jii.! 


^ 

%>.. 


,1 


,  and. 
rater, 
h  for 

lived 
>thers 
r  Cdi,  ', 
driV-  ^. 
The 
>t  set- 
came  . 
i&t  of  , 


lettie- 
ments 
after, 
t  was 
ses  in 
d  and  /^ 
but  at. 
e  was 


'.'S 


there 


I'l 


\ 


\^{\ 


ee  on 


7  snre , . 

'   •  I  -  111 
t  that' 

Fr«dq- 


187 

nia,  (l^te  of  the  village  of  Prattsburgh,)  and  politely  Aumished  by, 
thai  gentleman  to  the  Editor.    The  manuscript  is  in  the  form  of  a 
Report  made  by  the  direction  bf  the  Prattsbm-gh  Lyceum.    It  iii  to  ' 
be  regretted  that  the  limit;  of  thia  volume  do  not  permit  more  liberal!  ^ 
extracts  from  Mr.  Hotchkin's  interesting  chronicle,]   ,^^  jiljj^v'ia  o;!) 

The  pioneer  of  I^xattsbargh  was  Captain  Joel  Pratt. 
There  were  actual  residents  within  tjie  bouAdaries  of 
that  town  before  Captain  Pratt,  but  its  settlement  and 
sale  were  cbnducted  by  him  j  by  his  care  it  was  peo-^ 
pled  by  citizens  who  at  an  early  day  were  reputed  by 
all  the  county,  nien  of  good  conscience  %vA.  steady 
habits ;  and  by  his  sound  sense,  and  his  discretion  in 
conducting  the  settlement  of  the  town,  he  gained  an  in- 
fluence and  enjoyed  a  public  confidence  at  home,  which 
entitle  bim  to  be  st jrled  thereunder  of  Prattsburgh,  ,  ; 

jTlie  first  purchase  of  Township  Nunmber  Six,  in  the  : 
third  rap^e^  was  ini^de  in  the  year  1797,  or  abo]it  th^l;  | 
time^  by, a  siirveyoip  ^f^H^^4  P^l^ton,  from  W^stei^lo,  ^ 
in  Alliiany  County.  ,  Judge  Kersey  wa|S|,admitted»toan 
interest  in  the  purchase,  by  Preston,  but  a  diUculj^  . 
arose  betweep  the  .tyiio  wbich  ifris  unnec^^sj^ry^to  d^y.^^^, 
tail  and  the  cUims  of  both  were  ultin^ately  relinquished^  ,^ 
The  tojwnship  was  first  known  m»  Kersey town%  r  :..^  r.,  t 

In  1799,^  or.  about}  that  time,  Capt,  Pr^^tt  came  into 
Steuben  County,  tie  had  preyiouslyi^esidj^d  in  Spen- 
certow,n,,Coliimb,ia  .CouBtyy.and/^^a?  indiicedi  by  the 
pronilsed  importance  (^f  ^he  Steuben  region,,  under  thp 
WilliWson  administrja.tion,  tp  make  a  purchase  among 
the  discouraging^  mouRtains  C|^^  the  jf'iy^^ile  Creels: 
country  in  preference  to  is^t.^Ung  himself  upon  lands  in 
the  neigbborhood  of  Geneya  pr  Q^^andaiguf^i  which  were 


v; 


tf* 


,..«*. 


188 


then  held  at  a  lower  price  than  the  hemlock  hills  of 
Wheeler.  Captain  Pratt's  first  purchase  was  of  several 
thousand  acres  in  Township  No.  5,  Range  8,  being  in 
the  present  town  of  Wheeler.     Captain  Pratt  entered  ' 
the  foroi^t  with  a  gang  of  men,  cleared  one  hundred 
and  ten  acr6S,  and  sowed  it  with  wheat.    On  his  re-  , 
turn  to  the  East,  the  rough  life  of  the  Steuben  woods 
had  so  reduced  and  blackened  the  fair  and  portly  far- 
mer of  Cblumbia  County,  that  he  was  not  recognissed 
by  his  family.    The  following  winter  Captain  Pratt  ' 
removed  bis  family  into  the  wilderness.    In  1802,  be-  , 
ing  not  altogether  satisfied  with  his  purchase,  he  was  ' 
permitted  to  exchange  it  for  the  township  above.  ,' 

Williatn  Root,  of  Albany  County,  joined  with  him' 
in  the  contract  for  the  purchase  of  Township  No.  6, 
by  the  tertns  of  which  contract,  Messrs.  Pratt  and 
Root  chi^rged  themselves  with  the  survey,  sale  and  set- 
tlement of  the  Township,  two  hundt-ed  acres  being  re- 
served'  for  the  support  of  a  resident  clergyman.    They  ' 
w^e  to  sell  no  land  at  a  lower  price  than  $2  50  per  ' 
acre',  kiad'tfcre  to  receive  one-half  of  all  monies  paid " 
for  land^  lit'arateextieoding  ^2  00  per  acre,  after  they  ;, 
had  paid  th^  sum  of  $80,000  into  the  Pulteney  Land 
Ofl^oe.    Tl^'eeonnectioh  of  Messrs.  Pratt  &  Root  ytia 
terminated  iii  1806.  h;    .^ 

'*  Mr.  Pratt  had  determitied  to  form  a  churcih  as  ^ 
well  as  a  towta.    It  appears  to  have  been  his  intentipn  ; 
to  have  cast  his  lot  with  the  hardy  pioneers  of  the, 
forest,  while  Mi;.'  Hoot,  who  continued  to  reside  at  AU 
bany,  seemed  to  regard  the  whole  enterprise  in  no 
otherlightthaiiiBS  a  hopeful  speculation.'^   .    .    . 


■>ili 


180 

*'  Captain  Pratt  was  a  member  of  a  Congregational 
Church  in  the  village  of  Spencertown.  It  was  his  de- 
termination to  settle  himself  and  family  in  this  Town- 
ship, and  establish  a  religious  society  in  the  order  to 
which  he  had  been  accustomed.  With  a  view  to  the 
accomplishment  of  this  object,  he  required  every  per- 
son to  whom  he  sold  land,  to  give  a  note  to  the  amount 
of  fifteen  dollars  on  each  hundred  acres  of  land  pur- 
chased bj  him,  payable  ^within  a  given  time,  with  the 
legal  interest  annually,  till  paid  to  the  Trustees  of  the 
Religious  Society  which  should  be  formed. 

"  The  first  permanent  settler  within  this  township 
was  Mr.  Jared  Pratt,  a  nephew  of  Capt.  Pratt,  who 
came  here  lo  reside  in  the  spring  of  1801.  Mr.  Pratt 
had  just  set  out  in  his  career  of  life,  and  brought  with, 
him  a  wife  to  cheer  and  sweeten  ♦-  ?  deprivations  inci- 
dent to  a  pioneer's  life.  The  fa.  vfhich  he  selected, 
and  which  he  continued  to  occupy  as  long  as  he  lived, 
is  the  same  as  is  now  owned  by  Mr.  John  Van  Housen, 
and  there  a  row  of  Lombardy  poplars  at  this  day 
marks  the  place  of  the  first  shelter  built  for 
civilized  man  within  this  township.  Concerning  this 
family.  Rev.  Mr.  Hotchkin,  in  his  history  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  in  Western  New  York,  takes 
the  following  notice: — *They  constituted  the  only 
family  in  the  township  for  about  two  years  and, 
a  half.  Their  hardships  were  many,  and  their  priva-! 
tions  great.  No  neighbor  within  several  miles,  no 
roads  except  a  mere  trail  and  a  dense  forest  all  around 
them.  To. obtain  3our  for  their  bread,  Mr.  Pratt 
would  yoke  his  oxen,  fill  his  bag  witH  grain,  lay  it 


! 

Ill 


190 


n 


across  the  yoke  cf  his  oxen,  and  drive  his  team  eleven 
miles  to  Naples,  where  was  the  nearest  mill  to  his  habi- 
tation, the  road  all  the  way  lying  in  a  dense  forest 
without  any  habitation  contiguous  to  it.'  Mr.  Pratt 
continued  to  reside  here  till  1840,  when,  by  a  falU  ho 
broke  his  neck,  and  died  instantly  in  the  63d  year  of 
his  age.  Throughout  his  long  life,  he  was  respected 
and  beloved,  and  in  his  death  it  may  with  perfect 
truthfulness  be  said,  '  Tho'  many  die  as  sudden,  few 
as  well.' 

**  The  next  settler,  if  settler  he  might  be  called,  was 
Daniel  Buell.  He  built  him  a  rude  shanty  on  what 
is  now  an  orchard,  and  attached  to  Mr.  Isaac  Ains- 
worth  farm.  Buell  was  a  jolly  and  most  eccentric 
bachelor.  His  usual  and  almost  constant  employment' 
was  hunting.  He  resided  here  but  a  few  years,  when 
he  sought  a  deeper  solitude,  and  soon  afterwards  was., 
murdered  by  a  party  of  Indians  in  Ohio." — {MS. 
Hist,  of  Prattshurgh.) 

Rev.  John  Niles,  a  licentiate  of  a  Congregational 
Association,  settled,  in  1803,  with  his  family  on  a  lot^ 
of  eighiy  acres,  being  part  of  the  farm  occupied  by  the  ^ 
late  Mr.  Josiah  AUis,  upon  the  east  side  of  the  present  \ 
Bath  road,  which  was  given  to  him  by  Capt.  Pratt  as> 
ail  inducement  to  settle  upon  his  township.    ^'The-. 
Sabbath  after  Mr.  Niles'  arrival  he  held  divine  service 
in  Jared  Pratt's  house,  and  from  that  day  to  the  pre- , 
sent,  these  people  have-never  been  without  these  sacred,^ 
ministrations.     About  this  time,  the  sons  of  Capt. 
Pratt»  in  advance  of  their  parents,  settled  upon  the 


191 


^ 


farm  which  has  ever  since  been  held  by  some  one  or 
more  of  his  immediate  descendants. 

**  Next  in  order  of  settlers,  and  in  the  winter  of 
1804,  came  the  families  of  William  P.  Curtis,  Samuel 
Tuthill,  and  Pomroy  Hull.  At  this  time,  the  only 
road  leading  to  town  was  the  Two  Hod  Road,  (from 
Bath  towards  Naples.)  Solsbury  Burton  came  like- 
wise in  1804,  and  occupied  what  used  to  be  well  known 
as  the  Burton  farm.  About  thfs  time  came  Capt. 
Pratt  himself,  with  the  remainder  of  his  family  from 
the  East  Hill,  in  Wheeler,  and  where  he  had  resided 
for  two  or  three  years  previous. 
":'**In  the  year  1806,  we  find  a  goodly  array  of  set- 
tlers. In  addition  to  those  we  have  named,  are  the 
following : — J^noch  Niles,  Rufus  Blodget,  Isaac  Waldo, 
Judge  Hopkins,  John  Hopkins,  Dea.  Ebenezer  Rice, 
Robert  Porter,  Dea.  Gamaliel  Loomis,  Samuel  Hayes, 
Dea.  Abial  Lindley,  Moses  Lyon,  Ur^l  Chapin,  Asher 
Bull,  Bohan  Hills,  Stephen  Prentiss,  and  perhaps 
others.  ^  ,,„,,.,  ^.t) 

'*  Whoever,  at  the  present  day,  will  walk  through 
our  grave-yard,  to  read  there  the.  records  of  the  past 
generation,  ijriU  find  most  of  these  names  upon  those 
rude  head-stqn^^,  now  defaced  and  nearly  obliterated 
by  the  hand,  of  time,  for  most  of  them  l^ave  long  since 
gone  down  to  the  silent  resting,  pliice  of  ithe  dead. 
Ti^e  ascriptions  there  recorded  are  Jiqmely,  but  they 
are  trutl^ful.*'— r(Jlf5f.  Hist,)  ...^  .,-^^,.0       .^.-j  -j^. 

The  first  .exten^^e  clearing  in  P^attsburgh  was  one 
of  seventy- apres,  including  the  Pu^vlip  S<|ttare  of  the 


192 

Village,  made  m  1808,  under  the  direction  of  Captain 
Pratt.  The  first  framed  building  was  a  barn  built  by 
Joel  Pratt,  Jr.,  in  1804,  *'  and  that  identical  building 
yet  stands  by  Bishop  Smith's  orchard,  and  upon  his 
lot.  This  building  was  during  the  first  few  years  of 
our  annals  a  sort  of  **  Hotel  Dieu."  Families  there 
rested  until  they  could  arrange  the  rude  appointment 
of  their  own  homes,  sometimes  in  numbers  of  half  a 
dozen  at  once.  And  till  the  erection  of  the  first  meet- 
ing-house,  it  was  the  usual   place  of  holding  public 

worship The  first  merchants  of  our  town  wore 

Joel  Pratt,  jr.  and  Ira  Pratt,  two  sons  of  Captain 
Pratt.  The  first  hotel-keeper  was  Aaron  Bull.  His 
house,  which  was  but  a  log  one,  was  probably  opened 
in  1806  or  1807,  and  adjoined  Dr.  Pratt's  office. 
The  buildings  of  Dr.  Hayes  now  cover  the  same 
ground.. ..... .The  same  burying  ground  we  at  pre- 
sent use  for  ini;erment,  was  set  apart  for  this  purpose 
in  1806.  The  first  contribution  to  this  now  immense 
multitude,  was  Harvey  Pratt,  a  young  man  of  22 
years,  and  son  of  Capt.  Joel  Pratt."    {MS,  Hist.) 

The  Congregational  church  was  organized  in  1804,' 
and  at  that  time  c6nsisted  of  eleven  meinbiB^s.  The  first 
church  edifice  was  erected  in  1807,  and  Wfks  a  framed 
building  standing  near  the  southeast  corner  of  the 
public  square.  The  worshippers  it  sbems  were  at  first 
inoHnod  to  build  it  of  logs,  greatly  to  the  displeasure 
of  Capt.  Pratt,  who  **  retorted  upon  the  society  the 
anathema  prbnounced  against  those^who  dwelt  in  ceil- 
ed houses  irhile  the  temple  of  the  Lord  Idid  waste. '^ 


198 

Rev.  John  Niles  and  Roy.  James  H.  Hotchkin  wer« 
the  early  ministers  of  this  society. 

The  West  Hill  settlement  was  commenced  in  1805) 
by  Stephen  Prentiss,  Warham  Parsons,  and  Aaron 
Cook.  The  settlement  of  Riker's  Hollow  was  com- 
menced in  1807,  by  Michael  Keith,  who  was  joined 
in  1810,  by  Thomas  Riker,  John  Riker,  and  William 
Drake. 

"  Captain  Pratt,  who  figures  so  conspicuously  in 
our  early  history,  and  who  was  the  founder  of  our 
town,  and  to  a  great  extent  the  fashioner  of  its  polity, 
continued  to  reside  among  this  people  till  1820,  when 
he  ended  his  mortal  career.  His  last  days  were  a  sort 
of  patriarchal  retirement,  and  to  this  day  his  memory 
is  cherished  by  all  who  knew  him." — {MS,  Hist.) 

Judge  Porter  died  in  1847.  He  was  for  many  years 
one  of  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  the  town,  and  was 
a  man  of  liberal  education^  of  much  literary  taste,  and 
an  efficient  and  conscientious  magistrate.  The  annal- 
ist, ofthe  town  says,  '^  He  probably  filled  more  offices 
of  trust  among  this  people  than  any  other  man  of  his 
day.  Our  early  town  records  show  that  all  the  most 
responsible  offices  within  our  bounds  have  from  time  to 
time  been  filled  by  him." 

Rev.  James  H.  Hotchkin,  a  venerable  and  widely 
known  citizen  of  Prattsburgh,  (author  of  The  History  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Western  JVew  York,  here- 
tofore alluded  to,)  died  September  2d,  1851.  He  was 
the  son  of  fieriah  Hotchkin,  a  pioneer  missionary. 
He  graduated  at  Williams  College,  1800;  studied 
theology  with  Dr.  Porter,  of  Cattskill,  removed  ta 
18 


«»* 


194 

Prattsburgh  in  1809,  and  there  labored  twenty-one 
years.  The  Genesee  Evangelist  says  of  him  *'  He  had 
a  mind  of  a  strong  masculine  order,  well  disciplined 
by  various  reading,  and  stored  with  general  knowledge. 
The  doctrinal  views  of  the  good  old  orthordox  New 
England  stamp  which  he  imbibed  at  first,  he  main- 
tained strenuously  to  the  last,  and  left  a  distinct  im- 
pression of  them  wherever  he  had  an  opportunity  to 
inculcate  them.  His  labors  through  the  half  century 
were  '  abuadant'  and  indefatigable.  He  had  the  hap- 
piness of  closing  his  life  in  the  scenes  of  his  greatest 
usefulness." 


WHEELER. 


> 


The  first  permanent  settler  in  this  town  was  Capt. 
Silas  Wheeler,  a  native  of  Rhode  Island,  who  emi- 
grated from  Albany  County,  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
in  the  year  1790  or  1800.     Capt.  Joel  Pratt  made  a 
purchase  of  several  thousand  acres  in  this  town,  in  the 
year  previous,  and  had  made  a  clearing  of  one  hundred 
and  ten  acres,  and  raised  a  crop  of  wheat  from  it,  on 
what  is  now  known  as  the  *^  Mitchell  farm."    Capt. ' 
Pratt  was  permitted,  by  Capt.  Williamson,  to  ex-' 
change  this  for  a  tract  in  the  town  of  Prattsburgh, ' 
where  lie  removed  in  1804,  or  about  that  time. 

Capt.  Wheeler  had  been  a  man  of  adventure.  He 
was  one  of  Benedict  Arnold's  men  in  the  perilous 
march  through  the  forests  of  ]\f  aine,  and  at  the  assault 
of  Quebec  stood  near  Montgomery  when  he  fell.  He 
was  four  times  taken  prisoner  in  the  revolutionary  war' 
— twice  on  land,  and  twice  when  roving  the  high  seas 


%i 


i^ 


hi:-«o  '^d 


195 

AS  privateer's  man.  From  his  first  captivity,  he  was 
4SOon  released  hy  exchange.  After  another  capture, 
he  lay  in  prison  more  than  a  year.  Being  taken  a 
second  time  on  one  of  the  daring  privateers  that  tor- 
■mented  the  British  coast,  he  was  confined  in  the  Jail 
of  Kinsale,  in  Ireland,  and  condemned  to  be  hung  as  a 
pirate — or  at  least  was  very  rudely  treated,  and  threa- 
tened with  hanging  by  powers  that  had  the  authority 
to  make  good  their  threats.  He  escaped  this  disagree- 
able fate  by  the  assistance  of  a  friendly  Irishman,  and 
-of  the  distinguished  orator  and  statesman  Henry  Grat- 
tan.  Mr.  Grattan  procured  for  him  a  passport,  pro- 
tected him  from  press-gangs  and  the  policy,  and  sc- 
oured for  him  a  passage  to  Dunkirk,  in  France. 
;  Capt.  Wheeler  was  induced  to  settle  in  Steuben 
County  by  Preston,  the  Surveyor,  (mentioned  in  the 
sketch  of  the  settlement  of  Prattsburgh,)  who,  on  his 
return  to  Westerlo,  spread  the  most  glowing  accounts 
of  the  fertility  and  prospects  of  the  Conhocton  Country. 
Capt.  Wheeler's  settlement  was  made  at  the  place  now 
occupied  by  his  grand-son,  Mr.  Grattan  H.  Wheeler. 
Capt.  Wheeler's  first  trip  to  mill,  is  worthy  of  re- 
cord. There  were,  at  the  time  when  he  had  occasion 
to  ^'  go  to  mill,"  three  institutions  in  the  neighbor- 
Jiood  where  grinding  was  done — at  the  Friend's  Settle- 
ment, at  Bath,  and  at  Naples.  The  mill-stones  of 
Bath  had  suspended  operations — there  being  nothing 
4here  to  grind,  as  yr^s  reported.  Capt  Wheeler  made 
4b  cart,  of  which  the  wheels  were  sawn  from  the  end  of 
4b  log  of  curly-maple ;  the  box  was  of  corresponding 
architecture.    He  started  for  Naples  with  two  oxen 


1^ 

attached  to  this  vehicle.  Tiro  young  men  went  before 
the  oxen  with  axes  and  chopped  a  road,  and  the  clumsy 
chariot  came  floundering  throu^  the  hushes  behind-^ 
bouncing  oyer  the  logs,  and  snubbing  the  stutnps,  like 
a  ship  working  through  an  ice-field.  The  first  day 
they  reached  a  point  a  little  beyond  the  present  vil~ 
lage  of  Prattsburgh — a  distance  of  six  miles  from  theii: 
starting  point — and  on  the  second,  moored  triumphant- 
ly at  the  mill  of  Naples.  .^    ^ 

Capt.  Wheeler  was  a  man  famous  for  liii^cdotels 
throughout  all  the  land.  Not  dfte  <^  the  multitude  of 
Captains,  who  flourished  in  our  country  in  early  days^ 
earned  his  military  title  more  fairly.  He  died  in  1828,. 
aged  78.  Hon.  Grattan  H.  Wheeler,  son  of  Capt. 
Wheeler,  died  in  1852.  He  had  been  a  prominent 
citizen  of  the  county  many  years,  and  had  served  in- 
the  State  and  National  Legislature. 

After  Capt.  Wheeler'^  settlement,  lots  were  pur- 
chased, and  improvements  made  by  persons  residing 
abroad,  some  of  whom  afterwards  established  them- 
selves on  these  farms.  Thomas  Aulls,  Ssq.,  a  son  of 
William  Aulls,  the  first  settler  of  Pleasant  Valley,, 
and  Col.  Barney,  of  the  same  neighborhood,  with  Philip 
Murtle,  who  lived  on  the  farm  now  owned  by  Gen» 
Otto  F.  Marshall,  were  among  the  earliest  settlers 
after  the  Wheelers.  These-y  with  settlers  named  Bear,. 
Fetral,  and  Rifle,  were  mentioned  by  our  informant  as 
constituting  all,  or  nearly  all.  Of  the  original  stock  of 
settlers.  Esq.  Gray  came  in  at  an  early  time;  The 
Gulf  Road  to  Bath  was  opened  by  Capt.  Wheeler;  tho 
Kefinedy  ville  Road  was  opened  a  year  or  two  after- 


197 

wards.  The  first  saw-mili  in  the  town  stood  at  the 
Narrows  of  the  Five  Mile  Creek,  and  was  built  \>j 
Capt.  Wheeler*        ,  ...  ..  .. 


li  W^fj 


PULTENEY. 


The  first  settlement  in  the  town  of  Pulteney,  was 
made  on  Bully  Hill,  by  John  Van  Camp  and  D.  Thomp- 
son, in  1797.  The  following  are  the  names  of  other 
early  settlers  from  1799  to  1807  : — Samuel  Miller,  G. 
F.  Fitz  Simmons,  Thomas  Hoyt,  Abraham  Bennet, 
Ephraim  Eggleston,  John  Kent,  Joseph  Hall,  senior, 
Samuel  Wallis,  John  Turner,  John  Ellis,  Augustus 
Tyler,  and  Ezra  Pelton.  John  Gulick  kept  the  first 
dry  goods  store  in  the  town.* 


HOWARD. 

Abraham  Johnston  settled  in  1806  where  Richard 
Towle  now  lives,  and  about  the  same  time,  Samuel  Ba- 
ker settled  where  J.  Rice  now  lives,  and  Reuben  Smith, 
Abraham  Smith  and  Abel  Bullard,  settled  on  the  road 
between  Gofi's  Mills  and  the  old  Turnpike,  near  the 
old  State  Road.  Jacob,  Benjamin  and  Daniel  N.  Ben- 
nett, settled  in  1807,  or  about  that  time,  on  what  is 
yet  called  Bennett's  Flatts,  Job  B.  Rathbun,  with 
three  of  his  brothers,  in  the  Rathbun  settlement,  in 
1808  or  1809.  WilUam  Allen  and  David  Smith,  in 
the  Pond  settlement  in  1810  or  '11,  and  Captain  Joel 
Rice  and  Esq.  Israel  Baldwin  in  1811  or  '12.  Ma- 
jor Thomas  Bennet  settled  on  the  old  turnpike  about 

■I-  ^■—^—■■11  I  I  ■  III  ■■     II  HI  I  Ml       ■■l^l»l.»«l       I        III  !■  II  II-  ■■■■■■■        I       ^t 

*  Communicated  by  Melchior  "Wagener,  "^s 

18* 


198 

six  miles  east  of  Hornellsville,  towarcl  Id 08.  Colonel 
Henry  .Kennedy  built  tk  saw-mill  at  GofTs  Mills  in 
1809.     William  Goff,  Esq.,  came  in  in  1812. 

The  town  of  Howard  was  set  off  from  the  old  town 
of  Canisteo  in  1812.  The  first  town  meeting  was  held 
at  the  house  of  Simeon  Bacon,  on  the  old  turnpike,  in 
the  spring  of  1818.  In  the  year  1812,  there  were  about 
thirty  families  in  the  town.* 


-•:/ 


HORNBY   AMD   ORANGE. f 


Asia  and  Uriah  Nash,  the  first  settlers  of  Hornby, 
settled  in  1814,  in  the  north  part  of  the  town  called 
Nash  settlement.  Edward  Stubbs,  Ezra  iShaw,  Samuel 
Adams,  and  Jesse  Underwood,  settled  in  1815.  In 
the  same  year,  Jesse  Piatt,  John  Babbins  and  Amasa 
Stanton,  settled  in  the  Piatt  settlement,  in  the  south- 
western part  of  the  town.  James  S.  Gardner,  Ches- 
ter Knowlton,  and  Adin  Palmer  settled  in  the  Palmer 
settlement  in  1816. 

Darius  Hunt,  Chauncej  Hunt,  James  Overhiser  and 
Thomas  Hard,  were  the  first  settlers  in  Orange,  on 
Mead^s  Creek,  probably  in  18l2. 


ii 


f4*,v<.i 


CONHOCTON.I  HJOffUfflsa    f)#^H     *'*V 

Captaiii  Williamson,  about  the  time  of  the  settle- 
ment of  Bath,  sent  a  man  named  Bivin,  to  the  Twenty- 
two  mile  Treey  (now  Blood's  Corners,)  to  keep  a  tavern. 

*  Communicated  by  Wiltiftm  Gofl^  Esq. 
f  Communicated  by  Henry  Gardner,  Esq. 
I  Commnicated  by  Mr.  Levi  Chamberlain. 


Colonel 
Miller  in 

Id  town 
ras  heljd 
]yike,  in 
e  about 


.«.«-! 

Iornt)y, 
I  called 
Samnel 
tl5.  In 
Amasa 
»  south- 
Ches- 
Palmer 

iser  and 
nge,  on 


settle- 
rwenty- 
tavern. 


199 

This  point  was  known  in  early  times  as  Bivin^s  Cor- 
ners, The  first  settlement  made  in  the  town  of  Con- 
hoc  ton  after  this,  was  made,  according  to  the  best  of 
our  information,  in  the  Raymond  Settlement,  by  James 
and  Aruna  Woodward.  In  1806,  Joseph  Chamber- 
lain, of  Herkimer  County,  settled  on  the  Daris  farm, 
near  Liberty  Corners.  His  household  consisted  of  a 
cow  and  a  dog.  All  his  property,  besides  his  axe,  was 
contained  in  a  small  pack.  For  his  cow  the  accommo- 
dations were  rather  rude.  When  the  hour  of  milking 
arrived,  the  settler  resorted  to  the  strange  expedient 
of  driving  the  beast  "  a  straddle  of  a  log,"  and  milk- 
ing into  a  notch  cut  with  his  axe.  Into  this  he  crum- 
J^led  his  bread,  and  ate  therefrom  with  a  wooden  spoon. 

In  the  following  year,  Levi  Chamberlain,  Captain 
Jones  Cleland,  Joseph  Shattuck  and  Deacon  Hora^ 
Fowler,  settled  in  this  neighborhood.  Other  early 
settlers  were — Timothy  Sherman,  James  Barnard, 
Samuel  Rhoades,  Jesse  Atwood,  Isaac  Morehouse,  and 
Charles  Burlingham.  The  Brownsons  settled  at  Loon 
Lake  at  an  early  day.  Abram  Lint  settled  at  Lint 
Hill,  in  1809,  or  about  that  time,  and  afterwards  t^c 
Hatches,  the  Ketchers,  and  others. 

Captain  Cleland  built  in  1808  the  first  mills.  Levi 
Chamberlain  built  in  1809,  the  first  frame  house  at 
Liberty  Comers,  and  Joseph  Shattuck  kept  the  first 
tavern  at  the  same  place  about  the  same  time. 

On  account  of  some  legislative  awkwardness,  the 
settlers  in  the  northern  part  of  the  town,  went  for  sev- 
eral years  to  Bath,  to  vote  at  town  meetings,  while 
those  in  the  southern  part  went  to  Dansville.    The 


200 

« 

two  squads  of  voters  used  to  meet  each  other  on  the 
road  when  going  to  the  polls. 

THE   COUNTRY  SOUTH  OP  CANISTEO.       •!.•       ^ 

The  following  are  names  of  settlers  who  were  living 
in  1810  in  the  town  of  Troupsburgh,  which  then  com- 
prised nearly  all  the  territory  in  the  county  south  of 
the  Canisteo  River,  '^  Beginning  on  the  east  side,  the 
settlers  were  Caleb  Smith,  Daniel  Johnson,  Lemuel 
Benham,  Breakhill  Patrick,  Samuel  B.  Rice,  Nathaniel 
Mailory,  Elijah  Johnson,  Joseph  Smith,  Reazin  Searle 
and  Bethuel  Tubbs.  Further  west,  on  the  old  State 
Road,  were  Ebenezer  Spencer,  Andrew  Simpson  and 
a  family  of  Marlatts,  Elisha  Hance,  Philip  Cady,  Eli- 
jah Cady,  Samuel  Cady,  Peter  Cady,  Caleb  Colvin, 
Matthew  Grinnolds,  William  Card,  Charles  Card ;  and 
west  of  the  old  State  Road,  were  Nathan  Coffin,  Henry 
Garrison, ,  Edmund  Robinson,  Jeremiah  Nudd.  The 
last  three  came  in  1812,  Alanson  Perry  came  in  1810. 
There  was  bome  others  here  in  an  early  day,  as  by  the 
census  of  1815,  there  were  over  500  inhabitants."* 
Daniel  Johnson  was  Supervisor  till  1812,  and  Charles 
Card  from  1813  to  1819.  Samuel  B.  Rice  was  Town 
Clerk  for  about  twenty  years.  The  first  grist-mill 
was  built  by  Caleb  Smith,  the  second  by  George  Mar- 
tin in  1812.  "  There  was  but  little  improvement  made 
for  several  years,  and  many  of  the  first  settlers  became 
discouraged  and  emigrated  to  the  West,  and  the  town 
seemed  to  be  at  a  stand.   Those  remaining  have  become 

, . ,  *  Cammunicated  by  Charles  Card,  Eaq.       ^  mt^di 


201 


; 


comfortable  in  circumstances."  The  Brotzman's, 
Andrew  Boyd,  the  Rowleys  and  John  Craig  were  early 
settlers  of  Jasper. 


•  ti    Uiti. 


.iU-< 


y,» 


0IlAN6E.^-->imtQ 


'J-i 


"  That  part  of  the  Town  of  Orange  called  Mead's 
Creek  was  settled,  or  began  to  be  settled,  a  few  years 
previous  to  1820.  Among  the  inhabitants  who  were 
there  previous  to  or  about  that  time,  were  Jedediah 
Miller,  Andrew  Fort,  David  Kimball,  Esq.,  and  his 
brother  Moses,  John  Dyer,  Sylvester  Goodrich,  and 
three  settlers  named  Hewitt.  Joshua  Chamberlain 
came  there  four  or  five  years  later  and  bought  the  land 
where  the  village  of  Monterey  stands,  of  a  man  by  the 
name  of  De  Witt. 

t+  "  The  northeast  part  of  the  Town  of  Orange  known 
by  the  appellation  of  Sugar  Hill,  did  not  receive  its  name 
from  any  distinguished  elevation  or  large  hill,  but  from 
the  following  circumstance.  Some  of  the  men  and 
boys  from  the  older  settlements  used  to  come  to  this 
place  to  make  sugar  in  the  spring  of  the  year,  while  it 
wds  yet  a  wilderness.  They  had  traversed  the  woods 
in  quest  of  deer,  and  taken  notice  of  the  fine  groves  of 
maple  in  this  locality,  and  as  there  were  no  settlers  on 
the  land,  and  nobody  in  their  way,  they  had  an  excel- 
lent chance  for  making  sugar;  and  as  they  had  to  give 
the  place  some  name,  they  called  it  Sugar  Hill.  The 
settlement  began  about  the  year  1819  or  1820k  Lewis 
Nichols,  William  Webb,  Thomas  Horton,  Abraham 

*  bommtmicated  by  Dr.  Silas  B.  Hibbard,  of  Sugar  Hill. 


202  . 

Alleii)  John  Allen,  Ebenezer  Beach,  Mr.  Evel^th,  Sey- 
mour Lockwood,  and  two  families  of  Comptons,  were 
among  the  first  settlers.  Dr.  Hibbard  arriyodin  1821, 
and  Abraham  Ljbolt,  Esq.,  came  about  the  same  time. 
"  After  the  commencement  of  the  settlement  the 
land  was  very  soon  taken  up  by  actual  settlers.  The 
fertility  of  the  soil,  its  proximity  to  the  head  of  Seneca 
Lake,  their  anticipated  place  of  market,  the  easy  man- 
ner of  obtaining  the  land  from  the  Land  Office  at  Bath, 
their  confidence  in  the  validity  of  the  title,  and  perhaps 
the  novelty  of  the  name,  might  all  have  contributed  to 
the  speedy  settlement  of  the  place." 


m 


CAMPBELL.* 

The  first  permanent  settlers  of  that  part  of  the  old 
Town  of  Bath  which  is  now  the  Town  of  Campbell, 
were  Joseph  Stevens,  Robert  Campbell,  Solomon  Camp- 
bell, and  Archa  CampbelL  In  addition  to  these,  the 
remaining  inhabitants  of  the  Town  in  the  year  1800, 
and  about  that  time,  were,  Elias  Williams,  blacksmith, 
Samuel  Calkins,  farmer,  Abram  Thomas  and  Isaac 
TL</mas,  hunters,  James  Pearsall,  farmer,  David  Mc- 
Nutt,  Joseph  Woolcott,  and Sailor. 


AVOCA.       * . 

Ayoca  was  known  in  the  early  part  of  Col.  William- 
son's time  as  ^'  Buchanan's,"  or  the  Eight-MUe-Tree* 
The  name  of  the  first  settler,  as  the  title  of  the  settle- 
ment indicates,  was  Buchanan.    He  was  established  at 

.1  *  Communioated  by  Mr.  Samuel  Cook,  of  Campbell. 


208 


>y 


that  point  by  the  agent  and  kept  '*  accommodations 
for  travellers.  A  correspondent  has  returned  the 
names  of  the  oldest  residents  as  follows :  James  Mc- 
Whorter,  Abraham  Towner,  Gersham  Towner,  Daniel 
Tilton,  John  Donnahee,  Spence  Moore,  Henry  Smith, 
Allen  Smith,  who  have  been  residents  for  about  thirty 
years,  and  John  B.  Calkins,  Joseph  Matthewson,  Ger- 
sham Salmon,  James  Davis,  and  James  Silsbee,  who 
have  been  residents  about  twenty-four  years. 


WAYLAND.* 

The  first  settlement  in  the  town  of  Wayland  was 

made  by Zimmerman,  in  1806,  on  the  farm  now 

occupied  by  J.  Hess,  at  the  depot.  The  north  part  of 
the  town  was  settled  by  Captain  Bowles  (1808),  Mr. 
Hicks  (about  1810),  Thomas  Begole  (1814),  Mr.  Bow- 
en  (1808),  and  John  Hume  (1808). 

The  settlements  at  Loon  Lake  in  the  south  part  of 
the  town,  were  made  in  1813  by  Salmon  Brownson. 
James  Brownson,  Elisha  Brownson,  and  Isaac  Willie, 

The  settlers  of  the  central  part  of  the  town  were 
Walter  Patchin  (1814),  Dr.  Warren  Patchin  (1815), 
Dennis  Hess  (1815),  Benjamin  Perkins,  and  Samuel 
Draper. 

^'  No  road  passed  through  the  town  except  the  an- 
cient one  from  Bath  to  Dansville.  It  was  a  hard  town 
to  settle,  and  people  were  generally  poor.  They  passed 
through  many  hardships  and  privations,  but  now  our 
town  is  in  a  prosperous  condition. 

*  Communicated  by  Rev.  E.  firownson. 


Il, 

li 

li  p 


204 

**  One  oiroumstanco  connected  with  the  early  settle- 
ment of  this  town  may  he  somewhat  interesting.  In 
1815)  there  being  a  scarcity  of  bread,  I  went  through 
the  towns  of  Springwater,  Livonia,  and  Sparta,  and 
thence  to  Dansville,  in  search  of  grain  for  sale,  and 
none  was  to  be  had  in  those  towns,  nor  in  Western 
New  York.  People  had  to  hull  green  wheat  and  rye 
for  food.  I  found  a  field  of  rye  on  William  Perine's 
farm  which  was  thought  nearly  fit  to  cut.  I  went  home 
and  got  some  neighbors,  and  with  oxen  and  cart  went 
and  cut  some  of  it,  threshed  it,  and  took  it  to  the  mill 
and  had  it  mashed,  for  it  was  too  damp  to  grind,  and 
thought  ourselves  the  happiest  people  in  the  world  be- 
cause we  had  bread."  j»«oi 

il 

'  •'  ■«       ■^■■■■:ii"A   ,....!;  J.;    '■fjii  '^\ 


f» 


i'>  1.«.^ 


^Tf)      '.i'tJ',  ' 


}»01' 


f  settle- 
ng.  In 
through 
rta,  and 
ale,  and 
Western 
and  rye 
Perine's 
nt  home 
irt  went 
the  mill 
ind,  and 
orld  be- 

ij 
'.[ 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE     AIR     CASTLE     VANISHING — THE    CLOSE     OF     COL* 

l^r  Williamson's  agency — his  character. 

Nearly  sixty  years  have  passed  away  since  the  Scot- 
tish Captain  started  from  the  West  Branch  in  pursuit 
of  the  air-castle  which  shone  so  bupvely  like  a  bal- 
loon to  him,  looking  northward  from  the  Cliffs  of  North- 
umberland. The  changes  which  have  in  the  mean 
time  been  wrought  upon  this  continent,  are  without  a 
parallel  in  the  world's  annals.  Prophecy  has  been 
imt  to  silence  :  conjecture  has  proved  a  fool ;  for  the 
things  which  have  been  accomplished  exceed  so  fur  any 
thing  promised  in  the  visions  of  political  prophets,  or 
in  the  ravings  of  dreamers,  that  the  extravagance  of 
our  ancient  soothsayers  is  this  day  accounted  modera- 
tion. No  conquest  of  Goths,  or  Tartars  can  be  com- 
pared for  rapidity  with  that  which  has  been  achieved 
by  the  woodsmen  of  America  in  the  overthrow  of  a 
forest  as  broad  as  an  ocean.  The  little  weapon  which 
they  wielded  against  the  innumerable  host  that  they 
went  forth  to  conquer,  seemed  enchanted,  like  the 
swords  of  those  champions  of  old,  who  are  said  to  have 
slain  their  pagan  enemies  till  rivers  were  choked,  and 
hollows  became  hillocks.  States  have  been  founded^ 
19 


206 

oitlas  built,  savage  rivers  made  highways,  prairies 
where  the  Genius  of  Barbarism  fed  his  herds  of  elk 
and  buffalo,  made  pastures  for  mules  and  bullocks, 
and  the  lakes  which  lay  afar  off  in  the  solitudes,  cross- 
ed only  by  flocks  of  wild  fowl  and  the  fleets  of  Indian 
admirals,  have  been  gladdened  by  the  keels  of  steam- 
ships and  the  watchful  flame  of  light-houses.  The  ut- 
most western  wilderness  which  the  settler  of  ^'  The 
Genesee"  beheld  over  the  Lakes,  and  which  he  sur- 
mised might  become  the  dwelling  place  of  desperate 
pioneers  when  he  had  been  a  century  in  his  grave,  is 
now  but  midway  between  Niagara  and  the  outposts  of 
the  Republic,  aiJill  caravans  of  restless  men,  pressing 
beyond  these  momentary  borders,  have  crossed  the  Cor- 
dilleras and  built  cities  on  the  coast  of  the  Pacific. 

Where  now  is  the  gallant  Scot  and  his  city  ?  The 
Genesee  country  has  not  lagged  in  the  advanccQ  of  the 
Republic.  Its  population  is  counted  by  hundred  thou- 
sands, and  its  wealth  is  told  by  millions  ;  but  the  me- 
mory of  the  city  builder  and  his  schemes  has  almost 
perished.  While  the  Northern  counties  have  been 
making  almost  unexampled  strides  to  power  and  opu- 
lence, the  district  which  wise  men  of  the  last  century 
pointed  at  as  the  centre  of  future  Western  commerce 
ias  dragged  its  slow  length  along  in  poverty  and  ob- 
scurity, and  only  by  the  sheerest  labor  has  reached  its 
present  position  of  independence.  The  Great  West- 
ern Highway  was  diverted  from  the  valley  of  the  Con- 
hocton.  For  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  wealth  of  the 
North  and  West  has  been  rolling  in  one  tremendous 
iorrent  to  the  Mohawk  and  the  Hudson,  and  by  the 


207 


prairies 
of  elk 
ullooks, 
,  cross- 
Indian 
steam- 
The  ut- 
^  "The 
he  sur- 
Bsperate 
;raTe,  is 
;po8ts  of 
pressing 
the  Cor- 
cific. 
7'i   The 
s  of  the 
ed  thoa- 
the  me- 
s  almost 
ve  heen 
md  opu- 
century 
)mmerce 
and  ob- 
iched  its 
t  West- 
ihe  Con- 
h  of  the 
nendons 
by  the 


side  of  the  channel  through  which  it  poured)  the  demon, 
onr  ancient  enemy  aforementioned,  has  struck  swanps 
and  salt-bogs  with  his  staff,  and  forthwith  cities  haye 
risen  from  the  mire.  The  little  river  which  was  to 
have  been  the  drudge  of  the  broad  northwest,  carrying 
to  the  seaboard  squadrons  of  rough  arks  laden  with  the 
grains  of  Genesee  and  far-off  Michigan,  has  been  hap- 
pily delivered  from  that  tedious  servitude,  and  ram- 
bles idly  through  its  valley,  turning  a  few  mill-wheels 
and  watering  meadows.  The  fair  valley  of  Bath,  in- 
stead of  groaning  under  the  weight  of  a  wilderness  of 
bricks  where  brokers  and  cashiers,  and  other  mercan- 
tile monsters  might  go  about,  gratifying  their  financial 
instincts  to  the  full,  bears  at  this  day  only  a  quiet 
village  and  a  few  ranges  of  farms,  and  is  girdled  by 
wooded  hillsides  as  wild  as  in  the  days  when  the  great 
Captain  of  the  Six  Nations  was  wont  to  rest  with  his 
warriors  under  their  shadows. 

The  memory  of  the  Scot  and  his  city  has  almost  pe- 
rished. A  Senator  of  the  United  States,  addressing 
not  long  since  the  members  of  the  Legislatures  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  guests  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
at  the  Astor  House,  spoke  of  the  prediction  of  a  tra- 
veller in  the  year  1800,  that  the  village  of  Bath  on  the 
Conhocton  river,  would  in  fifty  years  become  the  com- 
mercial  metropolis  of  the  State  of  New  York.*    The 

*  A  portion  of  the  speech  of  Hon.  Wxluam  H.  Seward,  at  the 
Astor  House,  on  the  evening  of  March  22,  1851,  is  thus  reported  in 
the  New  York  Courier  and  Enquirer : 

"  Oentlemen :  It  seems  to  me  that  we  can  improve  this  festival 
oooasion  by  considering  how  intimate  is  the  reUtion  between  the 


e  X  208 

public  heard  it  with  surprise.  Many  men  of  the  past 
generation  remembered  the  name  of  Williamson,  but 
of  the  present  generation  few,  except  citizens  of  West- 
em  New  York,  knew  of  the  attempted  assassination  of 
the  great  Atlantic  city.  ^''^Sii 

^  The  story  of  the  downfall  of  the  Backwoods  Baron 
and  his  city,  is  a  brief  one.   Ten  years  Col.  Williamson 


City  nnd  the  State, — ^Ijow  essential  each  is  to  the  other.  There  is  a 
town  in  the  interior  of  the  State,  far  away  in  what  was  lately  known 
as  the  sedaded,  seqaeatered  part  of  it,  Bath  by  name.  Many  of  the 
representatives  of  the  Rural  Districts  know  it  well :  the  members 
from  Steuben  can  sj^ak  for  ii  Of  this  town  I  wish  to  speak.  It 
is  a  beautiful  but  qufet  one,  situated  in  the  delightful  valley  and  on 
the  banks  of  the  Conhocton,  a  tributary  of  the  Susquehanna. 
But  those  who  know  it  well  have  remarked,  that  it  has  a  broad  and 
magnificent  plan,  imperfectly  filled  out.  There  are  houses  on  cor- 
ners,  designating  streets  and  avenues,  without  inhabitants.  In  short, 
it  was  laid  out  for  a  great  city,  but  has  long  since  renounced  all  am- 
bitious pretensions.  You  do  not  know  how  this  has  happened.  Well 
if  on  your  return  to  Albany,  you  will  call  on  my  excellent  friend 
(Mr.  Street,)  the  State  Librarian,  he  will  give  you  a  small  duodeci- 
mo volume,  pubUshed  in  the  year  1800,  containing  an  account  of  a 
journey  performd  by  an  English  gentleman  in  the  short  space  of 
six  weeks,  from  the  city  of  New  York  all  the  way  to  Niagara  Falls. 
That  traveller  visited  Bath,  then  in  the  day-spring  of  its  growth, 
and  he  recorded  of  it  that  it  was  destmed  to  be  the  greatest  commer- 
cial metropolis  of  the  State  of  New  York. — The  Hudson  was  only 
a  short  arm  of  the  sea.  It  did  not  penetrate  the  interior  far  enough 
to  take  a  hold  of  the  trade  of  the  country.  Bath  was  to  receive  all 
of  it  that  could  be  diverted  from  the  channel  of  the  St.  Lawrence 
and  the  market  of  Quebec,  and  send  it  down  through  the  Conhocton 
and  the  Susquehanna  to  Chesapeake  Bay.  Had  that  calculation 
been  realized,  Bath  might  have  been  a  city  like  Albany,  and  New 
York  would  have  been  a  city  over  which  the  President  coidd  have 
had  but  little  ambition  to  preside." — (Cheers.) 


he  past 

on,  but 

West- 

ation  of 

I  Baron 
liamson 


Tiere  is  a 
ly  known 
Dj  of  the 

members 
peak.  It 
ty  and  on 
[uehanna. 
}road  and 
38  on  cor- 

In  short, 
id  all  am- 
led.  Well 
nt  friend 

doodeci- 
lount  of  a 

space  of 
'ara  Falls. 
I  growth, 
t  commer- 
was  only 
ar  enough 
'cceive  all 
Lawrence 
^onhocton 
alculation 
and  New 
ndd  have 


209 

lived  on  the  Conhocton,  and  ejchausted  all  chemistry 
in  his  experiments  upon  the  possibility  of  turning  a 
castle  of  rainbows  into  stone.  His  expenditures  had 
been  enormous,  and  the  British  proprietors  began  to 
grumble  audibly.  The  towers  of  glass,  which  they  once 
imagined  they  saw  glimmering  in  the  wilderness,  were 
scrutinized  with  profound  suspicion.  But  whatever 
doubt  there  might  be  about  the  reality  of  those  struc- 
tures, as  to  one  thing  there  could  be  no  doubt  at  all. 
The  greedy  wilderness  was  swallowing  the  fortune  of 
the  Pulteneys  with  as  little  gratitude  as  an  anaconda. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  of  pounds  had  been  thrown  to 
that  monster,  and  like  the  grave  it  was  yet  hungry. 
To  satisfy  such  a  remorseless  appetite  one  needed  a 
silver  mine,  or  a  credit  with  the  goblins. 

Col.  Williamson,  however,  was  not  discouraged. 
Time  enough  has  not  been  given,  he  argued.  Even  a 
magician  would  not  undertake  to  perform  such  a  chem- 
ical exploit  in  ten  years.  The  brilliant  balloon  which 
overhangs  the  wilderness  is  not  yet  securely  anchored, 
it  is  true,  and  sways  to  and  fro  as  if  it  might  possibly 
rise  into  the  air  and  sail  away.  Give  but  a  few  years 
more  and  every  thing  will  be  accomplished. 

But  the  faith  and  patience  of  the  proprietors  had 

become  utterly  exhausted.     They  had  had  enough  of 

balloons  and  ballooning,  and  were  deaf  to  argument. 

Like  one  awaking  from  enchantment,  the  Baronet  saw 

the  towers  of  ivory  to  be  but  squat  pens  of  logs,  and 

the  spires  of  glass,  but  long  dead  trunks  of  hemlocks, 

bristling  with  spikes  and  blackened  with  fire.     It  was 

determined  to  change  the  system  which  had  regulated 
19* 


210 


i! 


the  estate.  Accordingly,  in  1802,  Col.  Williamscm 
descended  from  the  throne,  and  Robert  Troup,  Esq., 
of  the  city  of  New  York  reigned  in  his  stead.*     »*^»^' 

*  Colonel  Williamson  held  the  Pulteney  Estates  in  New  York  in 
his  own  name,  and  conveyed  them  to  Sir  William  Pulteney  in  the 
month  of  March,  1801.  The  act  of  1798,  permitting  aliens  to  pur- 
chase and  hold  real  estate  in  this  State,  (passed,  it  is  said,  through 
the  influence  of  CuL  W.,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  in 
that  year,)  expired,  by  its  own  limitation,  on  the  2d  of  April  following. 

Col.  Williamson  assigned  to  Sir  William  PuKeney  on  the  ISfh  of 
December,  1800,  for  the  consideration  of  $300,000,  all  the  braids  and 
mortgages  held  by  him. 

In  the  month  of  March  following,  he  executed  to  Sir  William 
Pulteney  fire  deeds,  which  were  delivered  as  escrows  to  Robert  Troup, 
Esq.,  to  be  delivered  to  Sir  W.  P.,  in  case  certain  conditions  were 
performed  before  the  25th  day  of  October,  1801,  which  conditions  were 
performed  by  the  execution  of  a  deed  from  Pulteney  to  Williamson, 
dated  28d  July,  1801.  Of  these  five  deeds,  the  first,  dated  4th  March, 
1801,  conveys  50,000  acres  of  land  in  the  County  of  Ontario;  the  se- 
cond, dated  5th  March,  1801,  conveys  twenty  lots  in  the  heart  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  1784  acres  of  land  in  the  County  of  Otsego,  1299 
acres  in  the  town  of  Unadilla,  1400  acres  in  the  County  of  Herkimer, 
9000  in  the  County  of  Montgomery,  34108  acres  in  the  County  of 
Chenango :  the  third,  dated  27th  March,  1801,  conveys  7000  acres  of 
land  in  the  County  of  Chenango ;  the  fourth,  dated  31st  March,  1801, 
conveys  6000  acres  of  land  in  the  Gerundigut  township,  and  600 
acres  in  the  town  of  Galena,  in  Cayuga,  and  all  lands  in  the  State  of 
New  York,  held  by  the  said  Williamson :  the  fifth  is  an  assignment 
of  all  the  personal  property,  notes,  bonds,  bills,  and  securities  of  every 
description,  held  by  the  said  Williamson.  The  consideration  express- 
ed in  each,  is  one  dollar,  and  all  lands  sold,  or  contracted  to  be  sold 
out  of  the  tracts  conveyed,  are  reserved. 

By  the  instrument  executed  on  the  23d  day  of  July,  1801,  Sir  Wil- 
liam Pulteney,  in  consideration  of  the  execution  of  the  said  five  es- 
crows, and  of  the  sum  of  twenty  shillings,  agreed — first,  to  accept 
and  pay  nine  setts  of  bills  of  exchange  drawn  by  Williamson  on  the 
'  24th  March,  1801,  for  the  sum  of  £5,000  atcrling,  at  two,  three  and 


211 


it-  Col.  Williamson,  after  the  termination  of  his  agen- 
cy, returned  to  England.     He  afterwards  made  occa- 
sional visits  to  America.     He  died  in  the  year  1807, 
(at  sea,  it  is  said,)  of  the  yellow  fever,  while  on  a  mis- 
sion from  the  British  Government  to  the  Havana. 
IP.    He  was  a  man  of  spirit,  energy  and  ability.     Pre- 
possessing in  person,  free  and  frank  in  manner,  gene- 
rous and  friendly  in  disposition,  he  is  remembered  to 
this  day  as  a  "  fine  fellow"  by  the  farmers  who  were 
once  young  pioneers,  and  opened  his  roads  and  hewed 
his  forests.     A  keen  follower  of  sports,  a  lover  of  the 
horse,  the  rifle  and  the  hound,  he  was  accounted  a  man 
by  the  rudest  foresters.    High-bred,  intelligent,  of 
engaging  address,  and  readily  adapting  himself  to  the 
circumstances  of  all  men,  he  was  equally  welcome  to 
the  cabin  of  the  woodsman  or  the  table  of  the  Peer  : 
and  whether  discussing  a  horse-race  with  Canisteo, 
a  school  project  with  Prattsburgh,  or  the  philosophy  of 
over-shot  wheels  with  Bartle's  Hollow,  he  was  entirely 
at  home,  and  pronounced  opinions  which  were  listened 
'to  with  respect.    His  hale,  prompt,  manly  greeting 

'  four  monllis  after  sight :  2d,  to  indemnify  Williamson  against  the  ef- 
"  fects  of  bonds  and  mortgages,  to  the  amount  of  about  $70,000 :  3d, 
(to  pay  Col  W.  in  three  years  after  the  Ist  April,  1801,  £20,000  ster- 
,  ling,  and  the  interest  on  that  sum  at  five  per  c^it.  at  the  end  of  each 

year,  till  all  was  paid,  as  a  compensation  for  his  services  in  managing 
'^the  concerns  of  the  Genesee  Association,  and  also  £16,000  to  pay 
^  debts  contracted  by  him  by  reason  of  his  management  of  the  said  con- 
,  cems :  and  finally,  all  claims  and  demands  against  Col.  W.  arising 

before  the  1st  April,  1801,  are  relinquished  and  discharged. 
^      These  facts  appear  from  records  iu  the  office  of  Secretary  of  State. 
'  copies  of  which  in  the  possession  of  Robert  Campbell,  Esq.,  of  Bath, 
■^  the  Editor  was  permitted  to  examine. 


212 


won  for  him  the  good  will  of  the  settler,  and  gave  him 
inflaence  at  the  occasional  assemhlies  of  the  citizens. 
A  crowd  of  men,  for  example,  waiting  in  the  meadows 
behind  the  Land  Office  for  the  beginning  of  a  horse- 
race, became  impatient,  and  at  last  Canisteo  began  to 
kill  time  by  fighting.  The  Colonel,  galloping  over 
from  the  village,  had  but  to  exclaim,  in  his  clear, 
cheerful  way,  as  he  rode  aronnd  the  mob,  '*  What, 
boys,  have  you  begun  the  fun  already  1  Don't  be  in 
such  haste,"  and  wrathful  Canisteo  became  pacified. 

He  had  s  gallant  and  impetuous  way  of  doing  what 
was  to  be  done.  Where  he  was,  everything  was  kept 
stirring.  The  ordinary  routine  of  a  land  agent's  life 
had  no  charms  for  him.  To  sit  in  a  drowsy  office  the 
live-long  day,  among  quills,  and  maps,  and  ledgers, 
hearing  complaints  of  failing  crops,  sickness,  and  hard 
times,  pestered  with  petitions  for  the  making  of  new 
roads  and  the  mending  of  broken  bridges,  was  unen- 
durable. He  must  ride  through  the  woods,  talk  with 
the  settlers,  awaken  the  aliens,  show  his  lands  to 
strangers,  entertain  gentlemen  from  abroad.  By  the 
pious  and  substantial  settlers  from  the  east,  of  whom 
there  were  many  in  the  county,  his  tastes  and  prac- 
tices were  sternly  condemned,  but  even  these,  while 
they  were  offended  at  his  transgressions,  and  felt  sure 
that  no  good  would  come  of  a  state  founded  by  such  a 
Romulus,  acknowledged  the  spirit  and  vigor  of  the 
man,  and  were  willing  to  ascribe  his  failings  partially 
to  a  military  and  European  education. 

He  was  dark  of  feature,  tall,  slender,  and  erect  of 
figure.    His  habits  were  active,  and  he  pleased  the 


213 


I 


foresters  by  vaulting  lightly  to  his  saddle,  and  scouring 
the  roads  at  full  gallop. 

,«.  Gen.  McClure  says,  "  Col.  Williamson  was  on  ex- 
cellent, high-minded,  honorable  man,  generous,  hu- 
mane, obliging  and  courteous  to  all,  whether  rich  or 
poor.  In  truth  and  in  fact  he  was  a  gentleman  in 
every  sense  of  the  word.  He  was  well  qualified  for 
the  duties  conferred  upon  him  as  agent  of  such  an  im- 
mense estate,  and  for  the  settlement  and  growth  of  a 
new  country,  so  long  as  Sir  William  Pulteney  would 
furnish  the  means  to  improve  it." 

Col.  Williamson's  objects  and  motives  in  conducting 
the  affairs  of  the  estate,  were  not  merely  those  of  a 
speculator.  His  pride  and  spirit  were  aroused.  In 
invading  the  wilderness,  in  hewing,  burning,  bridging, 
turning  and  overturning,  till  the  stubborn  powers  of 
the  forest  were  conquered,  broken  on  the  wheel,  and 
hanged  up  in  terrorem,  like  the  rebellious  in  ancient 
warfare — in  these  he  found  excitement.  To  stand  in 
the  midst  of  the  mountains,  and  hear  the  crashing  of 
trees,  the  ringing  of  axes,  and  the  rattling  of  saw- 
mills— to  see  wild  streams  made  tame,  to  see  the  con- 
tinuous line  of  emigrant  barges  moving  up  the  lower 
river,  and  to  feel  himself  the  centre  of  the  movement, 
would  brighten  the  wits  of  a  dull  man,  much  more  in- 
vigorate one  so  wakeful  as  Col.  Williamson.  In  his 
fine,  dashing  way,  he  would  carry  the  wilderness  by 
storm.  Down  with  the  woods ;  down  ^ith  the  hills  ; 
build  bridges  ;  build  barns ;  build  saw-mills,  and  shiver 
the  forest  into  slabs  and  shingles — these  were  his 
orders,  and  they  express  the  spirit  of  his  administra- 


fr 


ill 


n 


If 


214 

tion.  In  this  swashing  onslaught  his  enthusiasm  was 
fired.  Besides,  the  money  which  he  controlled,  and 
the  power  which  he  wielded,  made  him  a  great  man  in 
the  land.  He  was  Baron  of  the  Backwoods — Warden 
of  the  Wilderness — Hemlock  Prince — King  of  Saw- 
mills. There  was  not  a  greater  than  he  in  all  the  land 
of  the  west.  When,  therefore,  he  found  himself  at  the 
head  of  a  little  state  which  might  sometime  become 
great,  the  Napoleon  of  a  war  against  the  woods,  it  is 
not  wonderful  that  in  the  excitement  of  building  Baby- 
Ions,  or  in  the  exultation  of  an  Austcrlitz  among  the 
pines,  he  should  be  animated  with  the  tlioughts  and 
emotiuns  which  principals  are  not  accustomed  to  ex- 
pect in  their  agents. 

All  these  dashing  operations  were  fine  sport  to  the 
men  who  rode  on  the  whirlwind,  but  to  the  magician 
over  the  water,  who  was  expected  not  only  to  raise  the 
wind,  but  to  keep  it  whirling,  the  fun  was  rather  ex- 
hausting. To  support  a  missionary  of  civilization  in 
the  American  backwoods,  purely  out  of  philanthropy, 
or  to  keep  amateur  city-builders  in  funds,  merely  that 
gentlemen  might  enjoy  themselves,  were  acts  of  benevo- 
lence, not,  of  course,  to  be  expected  from  the  British 
Baronet.  When,  therefore,  Sir  Vv  iiiiam  Pulteney  be- 
came alarmed  at  the  encroachments  upon  his  fortune, 
and  abruptly  stopped  the  operations  of  his  viceroy,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  say  what  fault  could  be  reasonably 
found  with  him  for  this  determination.  Considering 
the  remoteness  of  bis  possessions,  their  tenure  under 
the  supposed  uncertain  laws  of  a  republic,  and  the 
great  uncertainty  of  the  enterprise  attempted,  he  did 


w 


li 


215 


ism  was 
ed,  and 

man  in 
Warden 
of  Saw- 
the  land 
f  at  the 

become 
is,  it  is 
g  Baby- 
ong  the 
hts  and 
I  to  ex- 

t  to  the 
lagician 
aise  the 
iier  ez- 
ation  in 
ithropy, 
elj  that 
benevo- 
British 
ney  be- 
fortune, 
eroy,  it 
sonably 
sideling 
e  under 
and  the 
f  he  did 


no  more  than  a  man  of  ordinary  prudence  would  have 
done,  in  his  situation,  in  determining  upon  a  change  or 
a  modification  of  policy,  and  the  exercise  of  greater 
caution  in  his  expenditures. 

Time  has  proved  that  the  reasons  and  expectations 
which  induced  Col.  Williamson  to  undertake  his  great 
enterprize  were  ill-founded  ;  and  upon  the  strength  of 
these  acknowledged  errors,  he  is  often  sweepingly  con- 
demned as  a  visionary — ^a  heedless,  wasteful  man,  en- 
gaged in  business  of  which  he  was  ignorant,  and  for 
which  he  had  little  capacity.    Against  such  broad  and 
unqualified  condepanation  we  must  protest.   He  found- 
ed his  schemes  upon  the  expectation  that  the  tract 
known  as  the  Genesee  country  would  some  time  be- 
come a  region  of  vast  wealth,  and  that  through  it  the 
products  of  an  indefinite  Western  country  would  pass 
to  the  Atlantic  coast.     Has    time    branded    him  a 
dreamer  for  these  things  1    His  error  then,  was,  in 
mistaking  the  channel  through  which    Genesee  and 
the  West  would  go  to  the  sea-board.   But,  considering 
the  modes  of  transit  known  to  the  world  at  that  time, 
and  the  shape  and  position  of  the  navigable  waters 
which  drained  the  Genesee,  is  any  one  prepared  to 
say  that  there  was  a  flagrant  absurdity  in  pointing 
out  the  Valley  of  the  Chemung  as  the  destined  outlet 
of  the  undefined  Northern  country?     Most  men  of 
sense  and  experience,  at  the  close  of  the  last  century, 
entertained  this  opinion.     A  prophet,  it  is  true,  might 
have  unveiled  the  future  to  the  Scottish  chief,  and 
shown  him  canals  and  railroads  ;  but,  except  the  wig- 
wam of  the  Indian  doctor,  where  the  destinies  were 


.  «r;? 


216 

questioned  by  rattling  poroupine-quills,  and  shaking 
tho  horns  of  a  bufifalo-bull,  there  was  no  oracle  for  the 
Western  Cadmus  to  consult.  To  abuse  Col.  William- 
son and  his  coadjutors,  for  want  of  common  foresight, 
is  as  unreasonable  as  it  will  be  for  newspapers,  sixty 
years  hence,  to  be  astounded  at  the  modern  project  of 
connecting  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  by  railway  to  San 
Francisco,  when  "  anybody  might  have  seen"  that  the 
natural  port  of  the  Pacific  coast  was  Nootka  Sound, 
and  that  the  way  to  get  there  from  New  York  would 
be  to  take  the  wires  by  way  of  Lake  Winnipeg  and 
the  Saskatchawan  river. 


r 


^ 


yil 


•  hp.n  ti*f-sf%  -^4^ 


liw 


.       ..   ^imlit 

fr  ^:  mw 

'mM  i^r^m 

'.muimh  iid.'i  4A 

M'« 

i'  . 

h- 

.  .A^ 

■  'm 

him 

■    :' 

' 

k'4hfm  i!^M 

•  ■^i  f. 

'»E«  .,. 

■    hii#,#l#ffsj^-  nHi.swq4« 

•i-i'iy. 

.'  mm" 

CHAPTER  IX. 

STEUBEN     COUNTY     SINCE    THE     PERIOD     OF    SETTLE- 
MENT —  DIS  AST  ERS  —  PROGRESS PROSPECTS  —  THE 

,     CITIZENS   AND  THE    LAND   PROPRIETORS* 

The  history  of  that  province  over  irhich  those  blame- 
less shepherds  of  the  people,  the  supervisors  of  Sten- 
ben  Countj,  wave  their  transitory  sceptres,  has  now 
been  traced  with  as  much  accuracy  as  the  sources  of 
information  permitted,  from  the  earliest  ages  to  the 
beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century.  It  has  appeared 
how,  in  the  most  distant  times  of  which  record  can  be 
borne,  that  region  was  covered  with  the  waters  of  the 
sea ;  drifting  icebergs  then,  perchance,  scratched  the 
tops  of  the  hills,  and  our  home  was  a  pasture  where 
marine  herdismen  drove  their  ungainly  cattle — whales, 
sea-lions,  and  mighty  serpents  of  the  ocean,  and  the 
shark  and  the  sword-fish  prowled  along  the  trails  after- 
wards trodden  by  the  Indian  and  the  Tory.  It  has 
furthermore  appeared  how  the  land,  being  at  length 
delivered  from  these  monsters,  rose  above  the  waters, 
received  sunlight  and  showers,  was  covered  with  for- 
ests, became  a  hiding-place  of  wild  beasts  and  barba- 
rians, and  lay  in  silence  through  many  centuries,  being 
pleased  with  the  murmur  of  its  forests  and  the  rushing 


'* 


f[ 


218 

sound  of  its  rivers ;  Iiow  at  length  the  clamors  of  a 
strange  Tvarfarc  were  heard  at  a  distance,  in  the  val- 
leys of  the  lower  stream s,  and  waxed  louder  and 
nearer  by  degrees,  until  barbarism,  **  clutching  its 
curiously  wrought  tomahawk,"  and  gathering  its  fan- 
tastic robe  about  its  form,  swept  by  in  full  retreat, 
followed  by  a  horde  of  light-haired  men,  who  assailed 
the  wilderness  with  axes,  scathed  it  with  fire,  and  tore 
it  with  iron  harrows.  It  has  appeared  how,  afterwards, 
a  republican  baron,  coming  from  the  East,  built  him- 
self a  castle  out  of  i\\c  trunks  of  trees,  in  a  broad, 
round  valley,  begirt  with  pine  and  hemlock  hillsides, 
and  dwelt  there  in  the  depths  of  the  forest  in  true  fru- 
gal style,  exchanging  defiant  missives  with  potentates 
who  claimed  fealty,  and  entertaining  all  manner  of 
errant  gentry,  from  French  dukes  to  Newmarket 
jockeys,  with  much  better  grace,  in  faith,  than  the 
Front  de  Boeufs  of  the  ancient  English  backwoods, 
while,  to  complete  the  similitude,  Robin  Hood  and  his 
lusty  foresters  reappeared  on  the  Canisteo  Flats,  and 
4here  renewed  the  merriments  of  Sherwood  Forest.* 

With  the  close  of  this  baronial  period  the  present 
chronicle  will  conclude.  Our  heroic  ages  there  ab- 
ruptly ended,  and  modern  time  set  in  with  a  vengeance. 

*  Curiously  enough,  -we  are  able  to  perfect  the  similitude,  bj  the 
addition  of  a  Friar  Tuck.    The  first  Presbyterian  dei^yman  \rho 
ministered  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  the  Oanisteo  pioneers,  is  de- 
scribed as  "a  clever,  humorsome  man,  who  could  drink  grog  and 
4hrow  the  maul  with  the  best"    He  was  a  man  of  enormous  mus- 
^  cular  strength.    Preaching  once  in  early  days  in  a  warehouse  in  An- 
"^gelica,  he  became  so  much  engaged  in  his  subject  that  he  dashed  a 
^^■tore-desk  in  pieces  with  his  fist  i 


219 


Drs  of  a 
the  val- 
der  and 
hing  its 
;  its  fan- 
retreat, 
assailed 
and  tore 
erwards, 
uilt  him- 
a  broad, 
hillsides, 
true  fm- 
otentates 
lanner  of 
Bwmarket 
than  the 
ickwoods, 
»d  and  his 
riats,  and 
i'orest.* 
e  present 
there  ab- 
engeanoe. 

itude,  bj  the 
i^^yman  who 
tneers,  is  de- 
nk  gr<^  and 
irtnous  mua- 
house  in  An- 
he  dashed  a 


The  history  of  the  county,  after  that  epoch,  would  be 
but  a  record  of  the  incidents  which  make  up  the  daily 
life  of  an  inland,  obscure,  almost  inaccessible  region, 
as  the  movements  of  emigrants,  tho  establishment  of 
stage  routes,  tho  sessions  of  supervisors,  the  burning 
of  log-heaps,  the  building  of  saw-mills,  the  excitements 
of  courts,  trainings  and  elections — all  passing  by  so 
quietly  that,  but  for  the  clouds  of  smoke  that  overhung 
the  hills  on  still,  dry  days  of  autumn,  or  the  occasional 
gusts  of  martial  music  from  rustic  battalions,  one 
standing  without  would  hardly  know  that  any  living 
thing  was  stirring  within  the  hemlock  highlands.  A 
few  startling  interruptions,  as  the  war  of  1812  and  the 
Douglas  affair,  disturbed  the  routine  of  daily  life,  but 
the  people  kept  steadily  at  work  from  year  to  year, 
had  little  intercourse  with  the  world  beyond  their  own 
boundaries  except  through  the  medium  of  newspapers, 
had  their  frolics  without  proclamation  to  all  North 
America  and  the  adjacent  islands,  opened  great  and 
unsightly  gaps  in  the  forest,  steered  thousands  of  rafts 
through  the  cataracts  of  the  Susquehanna,  and,  devoting 
themselves  mainly  to  the  task  of  transforming  the  wil- 
derness into  meadows  and  plow-land,  did  few  memora- 
ble things  which  are  discoverable  by  the  chronicler,  i^ 
fy.  Let  us  barely  glance  at  the  general  progress  of  the 
county,  from  the  close  of  Col.  Williamson's  agency  to 
the  present  time.  At  the  time  of  the  agent's  depar- 
ture the  county  had  about  two  thousand  inhabitants. 
The  work  of  subduing  the  forest  had  been  but  begun, 
but  the  beginning  had  been  made  vigorously  and  with 
good  hope.   A  lumber-trade  had  been  opened  with  the 


220 

ports  of  the  lower  Susquehanna  and  the  Cliesapeake. 
Northern  men  had  begun  to  bring  grain  in  consider* 
able  quantities  to  Bath  for  transportation  to  the  mar- 
kets. The  location  on  the  Conhocton  was  yet  con- 
sidered highly  advantageous. 

The  rupture  between  the  proprietors  and  the  agent} 
though  sensibly  felt  at  the  scene  of  his  prominent 
operations,  was  not  regarded  as  hopelessly  disastrous 
to  the  prospects  of  the  county.  The  development  of 
the  agent's  plan  was  far  from  complete,  and  the  ex- 
periments which  he  had  made  were  insufficient  to  de- 
termine whether  his  enterprises  were  wisely  or  un- 
wisely conceived.  The  fate  of  *'  this  great  Babylon 
which  I  am  going  to  build"  was  jet  uncertain,  and  it 
was  hoped  that,  although  for  the  present  the  progress 
of  the  town  towards  an  honorable  position  among  the 
cities  of  the  land  might  be  retarded,  yet  that  it  would 
ultimately  rise  from  embarrassment  and  fulfil  its  des- 
tiny. The  air-castle,  though  rather  dingy  and  dilapi- 
dated, was  nevertheless  a  very  fine  affair,  and  was  not 
without  power  to  attract  people  from  afar.  After  the 
year  1800,  many  men  who  might  have  bought  lands 
near  Geneva,  Canandaigna  and  Rochester,  for  a  tri- 
fling price,  were  induced,  by  the  superior  advantages 
for  access  to  a  market,  then  offered  by  the  valleys  of 
Steuben,  to  establish  themselves  among  our  own  un- 
gracious hills.  Many  a  farmer  now  residing  in  this 
county  has  the  satisfaction  of  complainii^,  that  had  it 
not  been  for  Williamson's  balloons,  himself  or  his 
father  might  have  had  the  site  of  a  city  for  their  corn- 
fields, or  perchance  would  have  pastured  their  flocks 


■i 


221 


apeake. 
onsider- 
fae  mar- 
ret  con- 

e  agent| 
ominent 
sastrons 
ment  of 

the  ex- 
to  de- 

or  nn- 
Babylon 

,  and  it 
progress 
Qong  the 
it  would 
I  its  des- 
d  dilapi- 
i  was  not 
If  ter  the 
;ht  lands 
or  a  tri- 
vantages 
^alleys  of 

own  un- 
g  in  this 
at  had  it 
If  or  his 
leir  com* 
9ir  flocks 


on  the  ground  now  occupied  by  some  stirring  village  of 
Oenesee,  Ontario,  or  Onondaga. 

But  the  cold  water  suddenly  ehowored  on  the  deli- 
cate phantoms  that  overhung  thu  forest — soon  scattered 
them.  The  abrupt  drying  up  of  the  Pultefwy  Pacto- 
lus,  that  river  of  gold  which  had  hitherto  refreshed  the 
thirsty  wilderness,  caused  the  plant  which  had  been 
entrusted  to  the  Pine  Plains,  to  grow  up  scrubbily» 
A  very  ignominious  metropolis,  for  many  years,  was 
the  shire-town  of  the  county.  It  was  a  quarter  of  a 
century  or  more  before  it  began  to  free  itself  from  its 
deformities,  and  to  cast  off  its  beggarly  apparel  for 
comfortable  garments,  and  to  pick  up  Grecian,  Gothic 
and  Italian  finery  to  bedeck  itself  withal.  Indeed, 
immediately  after  the  departure  of  Baron  Williamson 
it  was  threatened  with  destruction  in  a  very  strange 
manner.  The  clearings  in  its  vicinity  were  abandon- 
ed, and  a  growth  of  oak  of  amazing  stoutness  and  ac- 
tivity sprung  up.  The  farmers  were  fairly  over- 
powered, as  if  by  tribes  of  wild  men,  and  driven  from 
their  fields.  Whole  farms  were  overrun  by  these  in- 
vaders. They  even  pushed  their  conquests  to  the 
edge  of  the  village,  and  stood  insultingly  at  the  heads 
of  the  little  streets,  like  a  horde  of  marauders,  des- 
cending from  the  hills  and  pillaging  the  suburbs  of 
some  seedy  old  city,  which  has  barely  enough  of  its 
ancient  vigor  to  keep  the  brigands  outside  of  the 
gates.  The  wild  beasts  re-took  possession  of  the  land. 
Between  St.  Patrick's  Square  and  Gallows  Hill  was 
good  hunting.    The  owl  and  the  wolf  clamored  nightly 

for  re-annexation.   The  bear  thrusting  his  nose  through 
20* 


222 


the  garden  pickets,  snuffed  the  odors  of  the  kitchens. 
In  1811,  the  whole  space  between  the  Tillage  and  thd 
pihe-fbrest,  which  encircled  it  at  the  distance  of  about 
half  a  mile,  was  overgrown  with  stout  oak  stalks,  from 
ten  to  fif^^en  feet  high.  A  few  huts,  occupied  by 
negroes,  ¥  ere  scattered  among  the  bushes  half  smo- 
thered, and  it  was  only  by  sleepless  care  on  the  part 
of  the  citizens  that  the  sprouts  were  kept  down  in  the 
streets  and  market-place,  and  that  the  whole  metropo- 
lis, like  a  babe  in  the  woods,  was  not  buried  in  the 
leaves,  so  deep  that  the  robins  couldn't  find  it.  It 
was  told  then,  as  a  great  thing,  that  a  farmer  on 
one  of  the  Marengo  farms  had  raised  twenty  acres  of 
wheat.  To  such  littleness  had  the  standard  of  great- 
ness shrunken  in  the  abandoned  Barony. 

Not  only  the  central  village  but  the  whole  cdtint^^ 
felt  the  shook  at  the  dethronement  of  Col.  Williamson. 
He  had  been  the  life  of  the  land,  and  "  times  were  dead 
enough  when  he  left,"  say  the  old  settlers.  No  more 
the  Hudson,  the  Potomac  and  the  Delaware,  were 
startled  by  proclamations  of  races  in  the  wilderness  : 
no  more  did  rumors  of  bull-fights  and  the  uproar  of 
bonis  disturb  the  goodly :  no  more  did  gallant  retinues 
of  riders  gallop  through  the  forest,  while  servants  fol- 
lowed with  luncheons  and  baskets  of  wine.  Newspaper 
paragraphs  no  longer  told  the  citizens  of  the  East  of 
great  things  done  in  Steuben,  and  pamphlets  no  lon^r 
enlightened  London  and  Edinburgh  concerning  the  ca- 
pabilities of  the  Conhocton  river.  • 

The  county  was  thenceforward  expected  to  work  its 
own  way  out  of  the  woods ;  to  hew  its  own  road  to  inde- 


223 


itchens. 
and  tb.d 
of  about 
ks,  from 
pied  by 
ilf  smo- 
the  part 
n  in  tbe 
letropo- 
1  in  tbe 
it.  It 
rmer  on 
acres  of 
f  great- 

liamson. 
ere  dead 
So  more 
re,  were 
derness : 
proar  of 
retinues 
ants  fol- 
twspaper 
East  of 
10  lon^r 
g  tbe  ca* 

n 

work  its 
I  to  inde- 


pendence and  prosperity;  to  scuffle  unbelped  with 
whatever  enemies  should  seek**  to  trample  it  ta  the 
earth.  After  years  of  bard,  and  often  of  discouraging^ 
labour,  we  have  gained  tbe  upper  band  of  the  enemy. 
Our  county,  for  so  long  a  time  proverbially  a  **  hard 
county" — a  kind  of  rough -banded,  two-fisted,  ill-fed 
county,  an  offence  in  the  eyes  of  Eastern  elegance  and 
Northern  wealth,  is  rising  fast  not  only  to  respectabi- 
lity but  to  consequence,  like  some  f^at  backwoods 
lout,  whd,  from  a  youth  of  log-rolling  and  sbingle-sbav- 
ing,  passes  to  a  manhood  of  judicial  or  senatorial  dig- 
nity, .-y-yir,.  ■---.. 

The  first  forty  years  of  6ur  county^s  eitistence  were 
years  of  iron  labor.  The  settlers  werfe  poor  men,  and 
the  discouragements  and  difficulties  which  they  met  with 
will  with  difiiculty  be  appreciated  by  coming  genera^ 
tions,  who  shall  inherit  vallies  long  tilled  and  hills  sub- 
dued by  years  of  thorough  culture.  One  long  familiar 
with  the  farmers  of  the  county  says :  "  But  few  com« 
paratively  of  the  settlers  ever  succeeded  in  paying  up 
their  contracts  and  getting  deeds  for  their  land.  The 
high  price  of  the  land  and  the  constantly  accumulating 
interest  on  their  contracts,  was  more  than  they  could 
bear.  They  were  compelled  to  abandon  to  others  their 
half-cleared  farms,  disheartened  and  weary.  Most  of 
the  contracts  given  by  the  agents  of  the  Pulteneys  for 
the  sale  of  land  were  assigned  from  one  to  another 
several  times,  before  the  whole  amount  of  the  principal 
and  interest  due  on  them  was  paid." 

For  the  last  twenty  years  we  have  occupied  the  van- 
tage ground,  and  have  been  engnged  in  a  work  not  only 


224 


of  subjugation  but  of  cultiration.  Hard  and  discoui'ag- 
iogwork  was  done  duriTtg  this  period,  and  quite  enough 
of  the  same  remains  to  be  done  among  our  stubborn 
hills ;  but  the  increasing  independence  of  the  earlj- 
settled  districts  and  the  additional  facilities  for  com- 
munication with  the  outer  world,  placed  us  upon  the 
whole  on  the  yantage  ground,  and  the  work  of  subju- 
gation went  on  with  greater  rapidity  and  ardor  than  at 
any  time  before.  Railroads  began  to  encampass  us  ; 
a  steamboat  appeared  on  the  Crooked  Lake ;  the  old 
farming  districts  began  to  grow  smooth  and  sightly; 
new  wildernesses  were  invaded ;  cattle  and  sheep  by 
myriads  fed  in  the  pastures ;  villages  were  built,  and 
old  dingy  towns  brightened  up  and  renewed  their  youth. 
Various  schemes  of  progress  were  agitated.  Canals 
and  railroads  were  discussed.  At  length  the  rumbling 
of  cars  was  heard  on  Shawangunk,  then  on  the  Susque- 
hanna, then  on  the  Chemung, — and  the  locomotive,  ten 
hours  from  the  Hudson,  rushed  over  our  glad  frontiers 
and  discharged  the  Atlantic  mails  at  the  ancient  monu- 
mental post  of  the  Senecas.  Saw-mills  arose  in  every 
pine  forest,  and  in  the  spring,  when  the  snow  on  the 
hills  melted  and  the  ice  in  the  rivers  went  down  to  be 
piled  in  long  battlements  on  the  meadows  below, 
hundreds  of  lumbermen  came  out  of  the  woods,  steered 
their  rafts  of  boards,  timber  and  enormous  spars  down 
the  torrents  to  the  Chesapeake ;  riding  over  huge  dama 
and  rocky  rapids,  sometimes  prosperously,  and  some- 
times shattering  their  fleets  and  suflfering  shipwreck 
and  drowning,  and  all  marine  disasters  which  await 
mariners  who  sail  in  whaleships  and  frigates. 


225 

"  Fifteen  years  ago,"  says  the  Citizen,  in  his  De- 
scriptive and  Historical  Sketch,  (speaking,  in  imagina- 
tion, at  the  beginning  of  this  century,)  **  standing  on 
an  exceedingly  high  mountain,  we  beheld  nnbrdker 
forests  lying  west  of  the  Chenango  as  far  as  the  rq,in- 
bows  of  Niagara,  and  covering  the  ridges  and  long 
slopes  of  the  Alleganies.  Standing  now  on  that  same 
promontory,  behold  a  change.  Broad  swathes  are 
opened  in  that  meadow  of  timber.  Smoke  rises  from 
the  little  chimnies  of  three  thousand  cabins,  scattered 
among  the  choice  valleys  and  by  the  pleasant  river 
sides  of  the  wilderness  west  of  Seneca  Lake.  The 
noise  of  a  myriad  of  axes  is  heard  this  side  of  the  Mo- 
hawk^ like  the  tapping  of  a  host  of  woodpeckers  in  a 
grove :  flotillas  are  riding  upon  the  rivers,  a  long  and 
scattered  caravan  is  filing  past  old  Fort  Stanwix,  while 
New  Englanders  are  afloat  in  the  canoes  of  Unadilla, 
and  stout  pioneers  are  urging  upwards  the  barges  of 
Susquehanna.  At  evening  the  great  forest  is  dotted 
with  lights.  Torches  glimmer  by  the  cabins.  Trees 
are  burning  where  fire  runs  wild  through  the  woods,  so 
that  in  the  mid  watch,  when  the  torch-lights  by  the 
cabins  are  quenched,  yon  may  see  afar  off  a  zig-zag 
serpent  of  flame  coiling  around  some  mountain  knob  of 
wandering  by  the  lake  shore,  or  pursuing  its  shining 
trail  through  plains  and  marshes.  Two  sounds  disturb 
the  silence  of  the  night — the  dull  plunging  of  Niagara 
in  the  West,  and  the  distant  uproar  of  Napoleon's 
cannon  in  the  East.  But  what  are  all  those  thunders 
that  rock  the  foundation  of  the  other  continent,  and 
those  tumults  of  kings  and  cannon,  of  horsemen  and 


226 


musketeers  vhich  the  nations  hear  with  alarm,  com- 
pared with  that  unnoticed  war  which  is  waged  in  the 
forest  below  you !" 

Bj^ing  unfortunately  ignorant  of  the  position  of  this 
convenient  mountain  (which  has  been  strangely  over- 
looked by  the  State  Geologist),  it  will  be  impossible  to 
invite  the  republicans  for  whom  these  chronicles  are 
written  to  look  off  from  the  same  at  the  present  day. 
A  view  from  some  such  promontory  or  from  a  balloon 
would  enable  them  to  see  to  advantage  the  present  con- 
dition of  our  county.  One  looking  thus  from  above 
would  behold  the  upland  forests  slashed  this  way  and 
that  with  the  most  lawless  violence,  and  the  principal 
valleys  freed  from  their  ancient  vegetation  except  where 
long  and  crooked  lanes  of  elm,  sycamore,  and  willow 
mark  the  channels  of  the  streams,  or  where  groves  of 
oak  stand  in  the  midst  of  the  fields,  or  here  and  there 
a  cluster  of  maples  or  a  solitary  pine  alone  remain  of 
many  brethren.  » 

Nevertheless  immense  tracts  of  land  aro  yet  covered 
with  the  forest.  Stripes  of  timber  as  broad  as  the 
height  of  the  hills,  almost  unbroken  for  miles,  line  the 
most  cultivated  valleys.  Many  broad  districts  are  al- 
most as  wild  as  at  the  first.  Within  a  mile  of  the  vil- 
lages and  clean  meadows  of  the  river- valleys,  one  finds 
yet  the  rude  **  settlement,"  and  on  the  further  side  of 
half  the  hills  in  the  County  are  hollows,  which  in  the 
provincial  pronounciation  of  hollers  are  so  suggestive 
of  hemlocks,  burnt  stumps,  log  cabins,  and  of  what  is 
known  in  despair  at  the  poverty  of  language  as  *'  the 
jumping-off  place.''     There  are  comparatively  few 


I 


227 


i,  coin- 
in  the 

of  this 
'  over- 
slble  to 
les  are 
Qt  day. 
balloon 
int  con- 
1  ajbove 
ay  and 
rincipal 
t  where 
willow 
oves  of 
d  there 
nain  of 
> 

covered 

as  the 

line  the 

are  al- 

the  i\U 

ae  finds 

side  of 

i  in  the 

^gestive 

what  is 

IS  "  the 

ely  few 


~*t, 


commanding  heights  from  which  one  does  not  seem 
see  more  forest  than  farmed  land,  and  there  are  many 
places  where  one  looks  across  to  districts  dented  with 
ravines  and  covered  with  treetops,  where  the  axe  has 
hardly  begun  its  mission. 

Forty  years  ago  almost  the  entire  strength  of  the 
county  was  in  the  valleys.     Great  now  is  the  strength 
of  the  uplands,  and  rapidly  increasing.     The  subjuga- 
tion of  these  obstinate  regions  has  been  a  labor  indeed, 
and  to  the  eyes  of  the  wanderer  from  softer  lands  they 
look  as  unsightly  as  the  battle-field  the  day  after  the 
victory.     The  black  stumps,  the  rough  fences,  the  is- 
lands and  broad  girdles  of  timber,  haggled  of  outline 
and  bristling  with  long  bare  spikes,  and  the  half-burnt 
trunks  of  trees,  are  indeed  uncomely.     Our  hill-coun- 
try, however,  is  calculated  from  its  structure  to  attain 
generally  a  good,  and  often  a  high  degree  of  beauty, 
when  cultivation  has  removed  its  primitive  roughness. 
"A  vision  of  rolling  farms  divided  by  wooded  gulfs  or 
Ravines ;  of  smooth  knobs  dotted  with  portly  cattle ;  of 
'clean  slopes  covered  with  grain-fields  and  orchards-— 
the  whole  forming  a  landscape  unsurpassed  in  rural 
beauty  by  ancient  and  renowned  counties  of  the  east 
and  north,  is  a  dream  of  the  future  by  no  means  too 
extravagant  to  be  indulged  in. 

Sixty  thousand  souls  now  live  within  the  boundaries 
« of  the  county.      Tweitty  villages  and  upwards  are 
'scattered  through  the  towns,  some  of  them  holding  pre- 
tensions to  beauty  and  importance.     The  great  rail- 
way  line  between  the  city  of  New  York  and  the  West- 
'«rn  States  passes  np  the  valleys  of  the  Chemung'  and 


228 

Canisteo,  which,  at  the  village  of  Corning,  is  joined 
bj  two  important  tributaries — one  extending  to  the 
coal  mountain  of  Pennsylvania  where  sixty  years  ago 
Patterson,  the  hunter,  first  unearthed  the  **  black  dia- 
mond "  with  his  tomahawk — the  other  passing  north- 
ward through  the  valley  of  the  Conhocton  to  the  Ge- 
nesee and  Buffalo.  Another  tributary  to  the  great 
trunk  joins  it  at  Hornellsville  on  the  Canisteo,  which 
also  terminates  at  Buffalo,  crossing  the  Genesee  River 
at  Portage  Falls.  The  Canandaigua  and  Jeffisrson 
railroad  crosses  one  corner  of  the  county.  The  Che- 
mung Canal  thrusts  itself  within  the  county  line  as  £ar 
as  Coming,  and  the  Crooked  Lake  gives  direct  com- 
munication with  the  Erie  Canal. 

The  dreams  of  our  ancients  have  not  become  reali- 
ties, but  wonders,  of  which  they  did  not  dream,  are 
i^mongst  us.  Iron  monsters  more  marvellous  than  any 
that  were  seen  by  geologists  in  the  marine  herds  which 
of  old  fed  on  our  sunken  meadows,  rush  through  the 
valleys  with  wild  and  discordant  bricks.  The  hoot  of 
the  engine,  and  the  roar  of  its  chariot,  employ  the 
echoes  of  tbe  bluffs.  Steamers,  and  heavy-laden  barges 
plow  the  lakes  where  once  wallowed  the  Durham  boat 
of  the  pioneer,  or  skimmed  the  canoe  of  the  red  fisher- 
man. !^ 

Jjct  the  reflecting  republican,  before  turning  from 
tho  perusal  of  these  records  to  his  saw-mill  or  meadow, 
considfnrik  few  of  the  comforts  which  the  citizens  of  the 
county  eigoys  to-day,  which  were  unknown  to  the  back- 
WQpdsmiM^  of  forty  or  fif ^  yeans  ago.  ^ 

Then  tlte  solitary  setdjMr  shared  hit  clearing  with 


229 


joined 

to  the 
irs  ago 
kck  dia- 

north- 
he  6e- 
e  great 

which 

0  River 
efiferson 

Che- 
B  as  far 
>t  com- 

e  reali- 

m,  are 

an  any 

s  which 

igh  the 

hoot  of 

?loy  the 

iharges 

im  hoat 

1  fisher- 

ig  from 
leadowy 
I  of  the 
leback- 

ig  with 


the  populace  of  the  forest.  Those  hairy  Six  Nations, 
the  bears,  the  wolves,  the  panthers,  the  foxes,  the  cata- 
mounts and  the  weasels,  hovered  around  his  narrow 
frontiers  to  slay  and  devour.  His  two  or  three  swine 
or  sorry  sheep  were  in  nightly  peril  of  the  scenes  of 
Wyoming.  Deer  bounded  before  him  in  his  walk 
through  the  woods.  The  fires  of  Indian  lodges  glim- 
mered among  the  trees  at  night. — Now  his  flocks  and 
herds  range  without  fenr  over  great  pastures.  Wag- 
gons roll  before  his  dwelling  on  the  roads  which  were 
once  lonely  trails.  Lights  glimmer  at  night  on  all 
sides  from  farm-house  windows.  He  hears  the  bells 
in  the  distant  village-steeples. 

Then  he  was  beyond  the  borders  of  the  Far  West. 
Behind  him  were  the  Atlantic  cities, — before  him  were 
tremendous  wilds  which  ho  heard  were  traversed  by 
the  Ohio,  the  Mississippi,  the  Missouri,  rumored  to  be 
enormous  rivers,  on  the  banks  of  which  were  brakes 
and  plains,  possessed  by  buffaloes,  wild  horsemen  and 
beai's.  When  he  went  East,  people  looked  at  him  as 
we  now  look  at  the  Mormon  from  Salt  Lake,  or  the 
fur  trader  from  Winnipeg. — Now  he  is  in  the  far  East. 
As  one  standing  on  the  shadow  of  a  cloud  sees  it  glid- 
ing under  his  feet,  and  presently  beholds  it  miles  away 
on  the  hill-side,  so  has  the  pioneer  of  Steuben  seen  the 
/'Far  West"  gliding  from  beneath  his  feet,  and  now 
he  beholds  it  moving  up  the  slope  of  the  Cordilleras. 
He  reads  of  boilers  bursting  at  the  Falls  of  St.  An- 
thony, of  steamers  dashing  together  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Arkansas,  of  flues  collapsing  under  the  Council 


Bluffs. 


21 


.Tioi<  j»-wij'rd 


280 

Then,  in  his  lonely  clearing,  he  guessed  the  hour  of 
the  day  by  the  sunshine  on  his  cabin  floor ;  he  foretold 
snows,  winds  and  droughts,  by  the  shape  of  the  clouds, 
by  the  vapors  at  sunset,  by  the  Moon-man's  expres- 
sion of  countenance. — Now  the  clocks  of  Connecticut 
are  ticking  in  the  forlorn  est  hollow  :  iron  pointers,  on 
many  steeples,  publicly  expose  all  irregularities  of  that 
luminary  which  governs  times  and  seasons,  and  alma» 
nacs  calculated  '^expressly  for  the  meridian  of  Western 
New  York,"  tell  him  exactly  when  to  expect  freshets, 
and  when  to  look  out  for  hail-storms. 

Then,  the  trader,  bestriding  his  horse,  jogged  off  to 
the  sea-port  through  the  dark  and  dismal  roads  of  the 
forest,  dependent  upon  the  whims  of  despotic  tavern- 
keepers  and  the  tender  mercies  of  *'  cross  widows"* 
by  the  way.  His  yearly  assortment  of  goods  was 
dragged  in  wagons  from  the  Hudson.  Now,  whirling 
to  the  city  in  a  night,  he  may  send  up  by  railway  those 
gorgeous  fabrics  which  have  superseded  the  homely 
merchandize  of  former  times ;  or  the  canal  boat,  laden 
with  his  ponderous  crates  and  hogsheads,  is  tugged 
through  the  Northern  ditches  to  the  Crooked  Lake, 
where  a  steamer  politely  offers  his  wheel-house,  and 
escorts  the  fair  wanderer  into  the  heart  of  the  hills. 
" '  Then,  the  lumbermen  saw  tho  creeks  come  leaping 
down  the  ravines  like  hearty  young  mountaineers, 
pines  stood  in  the  glens  like  stupid  giani5,  unconscious 
that  they  contained  cubic-feet  and  culling.?,  aiid  the 
hemlocks  made  dark  the  hill-sides  and  hollo\;'i>;  with 


•  Vide  McGlure,  Norr. 


.«IjJ,'U:| 


Lim 


I 


281 

their  worthless  branches.  Now,  the  pines  are  so 
nearly  extirpated  that  their  uncouth  cousins,  the  hem- 
locks, are  thought  worthy  of  the  saw.  The  creeks 
have  been  taught  useful  knowledge  and  drive  gang- 
mills,  just  as  in  Pagan  islands  the  missionaries  make 
good  boys  of  the  little  cannibals,  and  set  them  at  work 
churning  and  grinding  coffee. 

Then,  the  flaxen-haired  uichin  tumbled  in  the  leaves 
with  bear-cubs  and  racoons;  ho  blackened  his  face 
among  the  half-burnt  logs ;  he  was  lost  to  all  sense  of 
syntax,  but  perhaps  studied  arithmetic  at  winter  in 
the  little  log-school-house,  and  learned  something 
about  thf  Chinese  wall  and  the  antipodes.  Then,  the 
patriot  saw  the  country  going  to  ruin,  without  having 
it  in  his  power  to  sound  the  alarm,  for  there  was  no 
county  newspaper  to  trumpet  his  warnings  to  *^  a  prof- 
ligate and  reckless  administration."  Now,  there  are 
school-houses,  academies  and  seminaries — ^*  bulwarks 
of  liberty" — bristling  at  all  points  with  rhetoric  and 
geometry.  Three  political  newspapers  ride  every  week 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  county,  like  chariots 
armed  with  scythes.  Three  editors,  fit  successors  of 
the  Shiversculls  and  Brighthatchets  of  old,  brandish 
the  political  scalping  knife,  and  at  times  drop  their 
ferocious  weapons,  to  touch  the  lyre  of  poetry  or  the 
viol  of  romance,  at  those  brief  intervals  when  the  great 
congressional  bass-drum  ceases  its  sullen  roar  in  the 
Republic's  capitol. 

Of  the  things  to  be  attained  by  the  county  at  a  fu- 
ture day,  we  will  not  attempt  to  prophecy.  The  chief 
agricultural  eminence  now  believed  to  be  within  our 


232 


reach,  is  in  the  dairy  line.  Distinguished  graziers  in- 
dulge in  dreams  of  a  Buttermilk  Age,  when  the  chums 
of  Steuben  will  be  as  renowned  as  the  forges  of  Pitts- 
burgh, or  the  looms  of  Lowell.  They  publicly  assert 
that  while  our  neighbors  of  Allegany  may  presume  to 
make  cheese,  and  our  cousins  of  Ohio  may  hope  to 
shine  in  the  grease  market,  it  will  be  presumption  in 
them,  or  in  any  other  tribes  west  of  the  Genesee,  to  try 
to  rival  the  butter  of  Steuben :  that  the  grass  abound- 
ing on  our  juicy  hills  possesses  a  peculiar  flavor  and 
a  mysterious  virtue,  and  will  produce  most  stupendous 
and  unparalleled  butter ;  that  while  there  is  much 
grass  of  the  same  quality  in  Chemung,  some  in  Onon- 
daga, and  scanty  patches  elsewhere,  the  wretched  na- 
tives of  Ohio  are  utterly  destitute  of  it,  as  also  are  all 
those  miserable  myriads  who  extract  a  substance  from 
the  herbage  of  the  prairies,  which  they  insanely  style 
"  butter;"  that,  feeding  upon  this  grass,  calves  havo 
attained  an  appalling  magnitude ;  the  ox  may,  by 
proper  encouragement,  become  gigantic,  and  the  Horn- 
by steer,  with  his  broad  horns  and  deep  flanks,  will 
Be  looked  upon  with  unspeakable  envy  by  those  rattish 
red  bullocks  that  migrate  in  such  immense  hordes,  like 
the  ill-favored  Huns  of  old,  from  Illinois  and  Indiana 
to  the  New  York  market.*  fi 

To  the  degree  of  physical  prosperity  to  be  attained 
by  the  county  hereafter,  one  will  hardly  venture  to  set 
a  limit.  Let  its  citizens,  first  of  all  things,  have  a 
care  that  they  themselves  be  men  of  whom  the  Re- 

*  Speech  of  »  prominent  agriculturist  At  a  "  Railroad  meeting."    /^ 


288 


iors  in- 
churns 
r  Pitts- 
assert 
lume  to 
lope  to 
)tion  in 
to  try 
kbound- 
eor  and 
)endous 
}  much 
I  Onon- 
bed  na- 
are  all 
ce  from 
ly  style 
es  havo 

»ay,  by 
9  Horn- 
iks,  will 
I  rattish 
ies,  like 
Indiana 
-ji 

attained 
e  to  set 
have  a 
the  Re- 

seting."  ^ 


poblio  need  not  be  ashamed — Ood-fearing,  law-abid- 
ing, intelligent,  and  free  men,  and  they  need  not  doubt 
that  the  future  will  fulfil  the  promise  of  the  present. 
Failing  in  this  great  thing,  it  would  be  better  that  the 
land  had  remained  a  wilderness. 

There  are  a  few  considerations  respecting  the  rela- 
tions which  hare  heretofore  existed,  and  which  have 
not  yet  ceased  to  exist,  between  the  citizens  of  the 
county  and  the  original  foreign  purchasers  and  their 
heirs,  which  may  with  propriety  be  here  presented. 

It  is  now  about  sixty  years  since  the  greater  part 
of  the  county  became  the  property  of  the  London  As- 
sociates. From  that  time  until  the  present  day,  an 
office  has  been  kept  at  the  shire-town  of  the  county, 
for  the  sale  of  lands.  The  lands  have  been  sold  in 
small  parcels,  and  upon  credit,  the  purchaser  taking 
immediate  possession.  The  most  valuable  portions  of 
the  county  have  thus  been  long  sold  :  but  considerablo 
tracts  of  land  are  yet  undisposed  of,  and  actions 
against  shingle  splitting,  tort-feasors,  are  yet  brought 
in  the  name  of  Ernest  Augustus,  Duke  of  Cumberland 
and  King  of  Hanover. 

As  was  almost  unavoidable,  from  the  nature  of  these 
relations,  there  has  been  no  love  lost  between  the  citi* 
tens  and  the  proprietors.  During  the  agency  of  Col. 
Williamson  there  seems  to  have  been  a  cordial  under- 
standing  between  the  two  parties.  The  original  pro- 
prietors were  men  of  generous  and  enlightened  spirit. 
Sir  William  Julteney  was  a  statesman  of  high  stand- 
ing. Mr.  Colquhonn  had  also  mingled  in  public  af- 
fairs, and  was  distihgaished  as  a  philanthropist.  The 
21» 


284 


administration  of  the  estate  in  the  first  years  of  the 
settlement  was  conducted  with  an  evident  regard  for 
the  prosperity  of  the  settler,  and  with  a  liberality  and 
justice  on  the  part  of  the  proprietors  which  none  are 
more  ready  to  acknowledge  than  those  who  dealt  with 
them.  It  is  since  the  period  of  the  earliest  settle- 
ments that  the  policy  and  tone  of  the  alien  owners 
have  failed  to  command  the  respect  of  the  citizens. 

The  relation,  and  the  sole  relation,  which  for  forty 
years  and  upwards  has  existed  between  the  proprie- 
tors and  citizens,  has  been  that  of  sellers  and  buyers. 
So  long  as  the  former  confine  their  claims  to  consider- 
ation to  this  relation,  it  cannot  be  alleged  against 
them  that  they  have  transcended  the  bounds  of  what 
is  considered  reputable  amongst  men  of  business. 
They  have  required  high  prices  for  their  lands,  it  is 
true,  even  the  very  highest  prices  that  could  be  borne, 
but  to  demand  high  prices  for  lands  or  chattels  is  not 
considered  an  ofience  against  the  rules  of  reputable 
dealing  amongst  men  of  business.  No  one  is  compel- 
led to  buy.  It  is  true  that  men  have  been  required  to 
fulfil  their  agreements  with  the  land-holders,  and,  in 
default  thereof,  have  been  made  to  sufier  the  legal 
consequences,  but  neither  against  this  can  one,  accord- 
ing to  the  settled  maxims  of  common  dealing,  object. 
The  law  gives  the  right,  and  it  is  the  practice  of  men 
to  avail  themselves  of  it.  There  are  many  large  land 
proprietorships  in  the  United  States.  We  do  not 
know  that  the  administration  of  the  generality  of  these 
Is  characterized  by  any  greater  degree  of  liberality 
than  is  that  of  Jie  Pulteney  and  Hornby  estates.  The 


285 

proprietors  of  the  latter  havo  certainly  not  insisted 
upon  their  strict  legal  rights,  but  have  habitually  re- 
frained from  exercising  the  utmost  stringency  which 
the  letter  of  the  law  would  permit,  and  have  many 
times  granted  indulgence  to  those  in  delinquency  which 
they  were  not  bound  to  grant.     Whatever  causes  of 
quarrel  may  have  existed  between  purchasers  and 
agents  of  the  proprietors  are  not  fit  subjects  of  com- 
ment here ;  we  speak  merely  of  the  general  policy  of 
the  owners  in  administering  the  affairs  of  the  estate, 
and  hold  that  so  long  as  they  are  content  to  confine 
their  claims  to  consideration  to  their  character  as  sel- 
lers of  land,  it  must  be  admitted  that  they  have  con- 
formed to  the  rules  of  common  dealing  amongst  men. 
But  if,  beyond  this,  they  should  have  the  effrontery  to 
lay  claims  to  public  gratitude  for  services  rendered  to 
the  county  in  its  days  of  toil  and  privation,  or  should 
demand  credit  for  liberality  in  the  administration  of 
the  affairs^  of  the  estate,  of  a  higher  tone  than  is  ge- 
nerally exercised  in  this  lower  world,  these  pretensions 
would  be  simply  preposterous.     We  do  not  know  that 
any  such  claims  are  put  forth.    The  only  concern  of 
the  proprietors  has  been  to  get  as  much  money  as  it 
was  possible  to  get,  and  whether  settlers  lived  or 
starved  has  not,  so  far  as  human  vision  can  discern, 
had  a  straw's  weight  in  their  estimation.     Many  in- 
stances no  doubt  there  have  been  of  kind  consideration 
on  the  part  of  employees  of  the  estate,  and  some  of 
these  gentlemen  have  merited  and  obtained  the  reeipect 
of  those  with  whom  their  business  brought  them  in 
contact,  but  the  general  spirit  of  the  administration  of 


236 


the  soccessors  of  the  original  proprietors,  considering 
it  as  a  matter  affecting  the  interests  of  a  little  State, 
has  been  mean  and  narrow.  A  frank,  generous,  and 
considerate  bearing  of  the  proprietors,  it  is  perhaps 
safe  to  say,  would  have  obviated  nearly  all  of  that  hos- 
tility of  the  people  which  it  is  so  easy  to  ascribe  whol- 
ly to  democratic  cupidity  and  jealousy.  The  alien 
proprietorship  deserves  no  thanks  from  the  public,  and 
probably  will  never  think  it  advisable  to  ask  for  any. 
It  has  been  a  dead,  disheartening  weight  on  the 
county.  The  undeniable  fact  that  a  multitude  of 
bard-working  men  have  miserably  failed  in  their  en- 
deavors to  gain  themselves  homes — ^have  mired  in  a 
slough  of  interest  and  instalments,  leaving  the  results 
of  their  labors  for  others  to  profit  by,  should  be  of  it- 
self sufficient  to  shame  the  absurd  pretension  of  pa- 
tronage, if  it  is  ever  put  forth.  The  young  county, 
full  of  a  rude  and  indomitable  vigor,  gained  its  present 
position  of  independence  by  work  and  courage,  and  in 
spite  of  the  incubus  which  rested  upon  it.  It  has  to 
thank  no  human  patron  for  its  victory. 

And  it  is  well  that  this  is  so.  It  is  well  that  strong 
arms  and  stout  hearts  have  achieved  the  conquest  of 
this  wilderness,  unaided  by  patrons,  either  at  home  or 
abroad.  Fight  makes  might.  The  discipline  of  a  half 
a  century  of  poverty  and  tedious  labor  has  made  this 
people  stronger  of  heart  and  hand  than  they  would 
have  been  if  the  hemlocks  had  snapped  like  icicles,  or 
the  hills  bad  proved  softer  than  old  meadow  lands,  or 
the  apparitions  of  foreign  Peers  had  hovered  in  the  air, 


28T 


idering 
State, 
as,  and 
>erhap8 
at  ho8- 
e  whol- 
e  alien 
ic,  and 
or  any. 
on   the 
tude  of 
leir  cn- 
»d  in  a 
results 
e  of  it" 
of  pa- 
count  J, 
present 
and  in 
has  to 

;  strong 
[uest  of 
lome  or 
f  a  half 
kde  this 
'  would 
eles,  or 
nds,  or 
ihe  air, 


smiling  encouragement  to  indigent  sqiiattef s,  and  shak- 
ing showers  of  silver  from  the  clouds. 

There  are  certain  other  considerations  arising  from 
the  relations  which  have  so  long  existed  between  the 
citizens  of  the  county  and  the  foreign  proprietors  which 
may  be  here  presented.  No  state  of  things  can  be  im- 
agined more  offensive  to  democratic  prejudices  than 
that  created  by  the  relations  existing  between  the  peo- 
ple of  this  county  and  the  heirs  of  Pulteney*  Few 
stronger  temptations  to  disregard  the  rights  of  pro- 
perty and  to  advocate  something  akin  to  that  Agrarian- 
ism  so  much  dreaded  in  republican  commmiities  by 
those  distrustful  of  popular  rule,  are  often  presented  to 
a  populace,  than  such  as  arise  from  the  tenure  by 
foreign  Lords  of  immense  tracts  of  land  in  a  country 
heartily  hostile  to  everything  savoring  of  aristocracy. 
No  lawlessness  would  naturally  be  more  readily  ex- 
cused by  the  popular  sense  than  that  which  repudi- 
ated the  European  claims  of  title,  and  formed  illegal 
combinations  to  harrass  the  proprietors,  and  to  set  at 
nought  the  edicts  of  lawgivers,  and  the  process  of 
courts  in  their  favor.  What  can  be  imagined  more 
annoying  to  democratic  feeling  than  to  see,  as  the  ora- 
tors sometimes  tell  us,  the  money  of  republicans,  earned 
by  desperate  labor,  rolling  in  incessant  streams  to  the 
treasuries  of  British  Lords — the  sufferers  thereby  be- 
lieving, at  the  same  time,  that  these  rivulets  of  coin 
are  kept  up  by  some  kind  of  jugglery.  What  group 
would  so  well  serve  the  purposes  of  the  orator  and  the 
demagogue,  as  that  of  poor,  brave  and  free-bom  farm- 
ers  standing  in  the  posture  of  serfs  to  foreign  Nebu- 


288 


cbadnezzars  ?      What  better  pictures  to  adorn  the^ 
popular  harangue,  or  the  County ^s  Book  of  Martyrs,; 
sometimes  opened  before  sympathising  juries,  than 
those  of  foreign  Nebuchadnezzars  riding  over  the  necksi 
of  prostrate  democrats ;  of  foreign  Nebuchadnezzars 
plying  the  rack,  the  boot  and  the  thumbscrew  to  the. 
'*  untorrified ;"  of  foreign  Nebuchadnezzars  hunting 
shingle-splitters    with   bloodhounds    and   janizaries, 
throwing  farmers  into  fiery  furnaces  and  dens  of  lions, 
and  making  a  ^'  St.  Bartholemew's"  among  the  squat- 
ters 1 

That  under  these  circumstances  dofrctive  foreign 
titles  should  have  been  amended  by  the  Legislature  of 
the  State,  and  the  rights  of  the  proprietors  carefully 
regarded  and  repeatedly  asserted  ;  that  the  tender  mer- 
cies of  the  commonwealth  should  have  reached  such  a 
climax  of  tenderness  as  to  relieve  the  proprietors  from 
the  payment  of  taxes  on  their  wild  lands  and  to  rebuke 
as  unrighteous  and  impertinent  the  demands  of  the 
settlers  that  these  indigent  aliens  should  share  in  the 
maintenance  of  the  roads  by  which  they  profited,  and 
of  the  courts  which  they  crowded  with  their  suits ;  that 
for  sixty  years  their  office  should  have  stood  unmo- 
lested and  unthreatened  in  the  midst  of  a  populace 
doubtful  of  the  legality  of  their  claims  and  aggrieved 
by  their  perseverance  in  a  policy  which  is  popularly 
considered  unjust  and  disreputable ;  that  their  agents 
have  never  been  flagrantly  insulted,  nor  their  foresters 
thrown  into  mill-ponds ;  that  the  process  of  the  courts 
has  seldom  been  illegally  impeded  and  never  effectual* 
ly  resisted,  and  that  juries  have  never  refused  to  ren- 


289 


iler  for  the  proprietors  verdicts  required  by  the  law 
and  the  facts ;  that  by  a  community  abundantly  intel- 
ligent to  form  unlawful  combinations  which  would  se- 
riously disturb  the  operations  of  the  land  agency,  no 
such  unlawful  combinations  have  been  formed,  but  that 
the  only  remedies  sought  for  that  which  was  believed 
to  be  unjust  and  oppressive,  have  been  by  applications 
to  the  legislatures  and  by  defences  in  the  courts.  These 
are  things  which  those  who  tremble  for  the  sacrednesB 
of  property  in  republics  will  do  well  to  consider. 

The  duty  of  the  citizens  to  the  alien  proprietors  is 
plain ;  to  urge  an  observance  of  it  would  be  justly  of- 
fensive. There  is  no  disposition  in  the  mass  of  citi- 
zens to  grant  the  proprietors  anything  less  than  justice. 
Law  will  be  regarded  ;  rights  will  not  be  disturbed ; 
public  faith  will  not  be  violated,  and  to  urge  in  this 
case  the  practice  of  common  honesty  would  be  in  the 
highest  degree  insulting.  So  long  as  the  courts  and 
the  legislatures  recognize  the  title  of  the  proprietors, 
the  people  will  not  discredit  the  commonwealth  by  ille- 
gal resistance  to  authority. 

Amidst  all  the  causes  of  vexation  which  encompass 
US,  there  are  yet  various  pleasant  reflections  for  the 
exasperated  republican  to  console  himself  withal,  not 
the  least  of  which  is,  the  certainty  that  we  shall  in  due 
time  be  delivered  from  the  feudal  phantoms  which  have 
80  long  beset  us. 

The  mill-wheel  turned  by  water  never  rests,  but  the 
institution  that  goes  by  land-must  sooner  or  later  stop 
grinding.  The  water  that  pours  through  the  floom 
goes  down  to  the  sea,  but  rises  again  in  fogs  and  va- 


I! ; 


r; ! 


MO 

pors ;  it  asoends  to  the  clouds  ;  the  winds  blow  it  land- 
ward ;  it  falls  again  upon  the  hill  tops,  and  again  pours 
through  the  floom.  For  the  land  office  there  is  no  such 
hope.  The  element  that  keeps  its  wheels  in  motion 
never  evaporates.  Acres  of  gravel  do  not  readily  be- 
come clouds  and  rain  themselves  again  into  the  Duke 
of  Cumberland's  pond ;  and  section  lots,  especially  if 
they  contain  a  ton  or  two  of  mountains,  are  most  dis- 
couraging materials  for  a  fog  to  feed  upon.  The  re- 
publican, therefore,  terrified  or  unterrified,  may  confi- 
dently look  forward  to  the  time  when  the  coronets  of 
English  Peers  will  no  longer  glitter  in  the  air,  greatly 
to  the  disturbance  of  the  public  temper,  when  '^arti- 
cles," "  instalments,"  "  interest,"  "  assignments," 
*'  back  payments,"  and  all  the  terms  of  that  unpopular 
vocabulary  will  become  dead  language  ;  when  the  de- 
puty sherifif's  occupation  will  be  gone,  and  when  Er- 
nest Augustus,  Duke  of  Cumberland  and  King  of 
Hanover,  having  been  honestly  and  fairly  paid  for  that 
which  the  law  declares  to  be  his,  will  beg  no  more  th^e 
thunder  of  the  courts  to  avenge,  or  the  shield  of  the 
legislatures  to  protect  him,  but  will  abandon  his  title- 
deeds,  discharge  his  stewards,  and  vanish  forevQr  be- 
hind the  fogs  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean.         I;  iijiis<|«j^xa 

*ifs/f<|  kfc£:>1  9^1  m&it>  &9'i3tyi!94  «>y' 9*»ii 
-iiry  bitn  f^ol  m  nh-^^  mth  iitd  ^ls^  mii  m  nv/o{)  a^og 


it  land- 
in  pours 
no  such 
1  motion 
idily  be- 
le  Duke 
icially  if 
tost  dis- 
The  re- 
ly confi- 
onets  of 
,  greatly 
I  "  arti- 
imontSjV 
ipopular 
the  de- 
hen  Er- 
King  of 
for  that 
paore  thje 
I  of  the 
lis  title- 
BVQr  be- 

■ji^-jl  oa 
V 


^;f 


tiJuitoH 


rii{o4  HP,  '■  > 

y,        rCHAPTER  OF  MISCELI^ANIES. 


THE   INDIANS. 


,  Jt  will  not  be  necessary  to  speak  of  the  history, 
laws  or  customs  of  the  Six  Nations  in  this  volume ; 
sufficient  information  for  present  purposes,  as  to  those 
matters,  is  possessed  by  the  popular  min^.  Steuben 
County  constituted  a  part  of  the  domain  of  the  Sene- 
cas.  The  Indians  with  whom  the  pioneer  had  inter- 
course were  from  the  North,  and  visited  this  region 
only  to  hunt.  Many  hundreds  of  them  came  in  the 
winter  from  the  Genesee,  and  eve.n  from  the  Niiigara, 
built  their  lodges  around  in  the  woods,  and  killed  deer 
for  their  summer's  stock  of  dried  venison,  and  other 
wild  animals  for  their  peltry.  ^^.^  y 

;  The  complement  of  a  hunting  lodge  varied  accord- 
ing to  circumstances.  Sometimes  a  solitary  old  sav- 
age made  his  wigwam  apart  from  his  brethren,  and 
hunted,  fished  and  slept  in  silence ;  sometimes  the  neat 
lodge  of  »  couple  of  young  comrades  might  be  seen  on 
spme  little  island  cf  the  river,  and  sometimes  the  woods- 
man came  upon^  a  camp-fire  blazing  in  the  forest  by 
nighty  where  a  score  or  more  of  hunters,  squaws  and 
children  were  eating  and  drinking  in  a  very  free  and 
comfortable  manner.    The  Indian  *^  at  bonie"  w^s  not 

often  found  by  the  pioneers  to  be  that  taciturn  and  im- 
22 


i: 


242 

movable  Roman  which  the  romancers  paint  him.  When 
before  the  fire  of  his  wigwam  with  a  half-a-dozen  com- 
panions, he  talked,  laughed  and  joked,  and  had  an 
odd  habit  of  making  a  meal  every  quarter  of  an  hour^ 
as  if  afflicted  with  a' chronic  hunger,  patting  His  hand 
into  the  kettle,  or  fishing  up  with  a  sharp  stick  a  piece 
of  venison  as  big  as  his  fist  at  ever  j  pause  of  the  con- 
versation, till  the  young  settler,  witnessing  this  per- 
petual banquet,  feared  t^at  he  would  kill  himself.  He 
did  not  talk  in  riddles  or  allegories  like  those  whale- 
bone braves  who  stalk  through  the  novels,  but  was  of- 
ten inclined  to  be  shrewd  and  comical  in  his  language, 
and  sometimes  loved  practical  jokes  not  of  the  most 
delicate  order. 

During  the  first  few  years  of  the  settlement,  many 
of  the  inhabitants  were  uneasy  at  the  presence  of  the 
Indians.  Some  prepared  to  leave  the  county,  and  a 
few  actually  did  leave  it  from  apprehension  of  an  at> 
tack.  After  the  defeat  of  Harmar  and  St.  Clair,  in 
the  Northwestern  territory,  the  savages  were  often 
insolent  and  abusive,  but  Wayne's  victory  on  the  Mi- 
ami, in  1794,  put  i^n  ciid  to  their  plots,  and  they  af- 
t^wards  conducted  themselves  with  civility.  Some  of 
the  settlers,  however,  were  not  entirely  assured  for 
several  years.  The  wives  of  many  of  the  emigrants 
from  the  East,  unused  to  wild  lifd,  and  familiar  wltll 
ibe  terrible  fame  of  the  SiX  Natiohs,  Itvod  ifi  consiiani 
a1arm--^not  an  inexcusable  feaV  when  a  score  Otlirb 
of  barbarians  came  whooping  to  the  cabin  dfooi^,or>a1'i- 
ed  the  midnight'^eir  in  th'eir  camp  by  th'O  Or^ek-^ide^ 
till  ^veh  ttie  wblvks  were  ashamed  of  thoni,;:  "''^  "''*^^ 


a><« 


248 


.  When 
sen  corn- 
had  an 
an  hour) 
lis  hand 
k  a  piece 
the  con- 
tihis  per- 
jelf.  He 
le  whale- 
t  was  of- 
anguage^ 
the  most 

kt,  many 

;e  of  the 

by,  and  a 

)f  an  at« 

Clair,  in 

ire  often 

theMi- 

they  af- 

Sotne  of 

lured  for 

emigrants 

iliar  witli 

consUni 

e  6t  Ut6 

r,or)pai'ii- 

6ek-4i(|e, 


The  intercourse  hetween  the  settlers  and  Indians, 
were  generally  friendly  and  social.  The  latter,  how- 
ever, had  occasion  sometimes  to  complain  of  lodges  de- 
stroyed and  furs  stolen,  and  of  other  annoyances  to  bo 
expected  from  civilized  men.  A  hunter  living  at  the 
Eight  Mile  Tree,  (Avoca,)  wished  to  drive  the  K^dians 
from  a  certain  hunting  ground.  These  Native  Ameri- 
cans were  singularly  reluctant  to  labor,  and  lather 
than  chop  down  a  tree  for  fuel,  would  walk  half  a  mile 
to  pick  Ujp  an  armful  of  scattered  sticks.  Founding 
his  scheme  upon  this  trait  of  character,  the  hunter  cut 
a  great  many  branches  from  the  trees  in  the  vicinity 
of  their  camps,  bored  augur-holes  into  them,  filled  the 
orifices  with  gunpowder,  plugged  them  carefully,  and 
strewed  these  treacherous  engines  through  the  woods. 
The  Indians  knew  not  what  good  spirit  to  thank  for 
this  miraculous  shower  of  fire-wood,  and  gathered  a 
great  supply  for  their  lodges.  The  disasters  that  fol- 
lowed were  unaccountable.  Now  a  loud  explosion  blew 
a  quart  of  coals  into  the  face  of  some  mighty  chief — 
then  another  hidden  magazine  being  kindled,  filled  the 
eyes  of  the  presiding  squaw  with  dust  and  ashes,  and 
another  hoisted  the  potofif  the  fire,  or  hurled  the  roast- 
ing venison  into  the  basket  where  the  papoose  was 
sleeping.  The  wood  was  plainly  bewitched.  Timber 
with  such  fiery  sap  was  not  to  be  endured.  The  Indi- 
ans abandoned  the  neighborhood  with  precipitation, 
and  left  the  hunter  in  quiet  enjoyment  of  his  forest- 
rights.  . 

There  wero  some  occasions  when  the  Indian  was 
seen  in  his  glory,  arrayed  in  flaming  blankets,  adorn- 


244 


if 


J*' 


itfi-t^t  »kja«»«t^*.«**f^'i 


ed  mth  plumes  and  medals,  girt  with  curious  belts, 
from  which  glittered  the  knife  and  tomahawk.  Thus 
shone  the  warriors  on  their  return  from  the  Con- 
vention at  Newtown,  in  the  winter  of  1791.*  But 
after  a  few  years  of  familarity  with  civilized  men,  the 
savage  was  seldom  seen  abroad  in  ancient  style.  The 
braves  were  inclined  to  become  utter  vagabonds,  and 
gradually  adopted  tliat  mixture  of  civilized  and  savage 
dress,  which  it  is  not  g;oing  too  far  to  pronounce 
shocking.  Romance  was  horrified.  The  **  dark-eyed 
forest-belles,"  so  dear  to  poetry,  looked  like  stage- 
drivers. 

:,  The  traffic  in  liquors  here,  as  elsewhere,  proved 
ruinous  to  the  unfortuate  Indians.  A  large  portion  of 
their  game  was  bartered  for  spirits.  A  favorite  place 
for  their  carouses  at  Bath  was  in  the  bushes  at  the 
edge  of  the  village,  opposite  the  present  jail.  Here, 
floundering  in  the  under-buah,  howling,  singing  and 
screaming  all  night,  they  suggested  vivid  and  singular 
dreams  to  the  sleeping  villagers.  On  such  occasions 
the  squaws,  like  considerate  wives,  stole  the  knives  of 
their  lords,  and  retired  to  the  woods,  till  the  fainter 
and  less  frequent  yells  from  the  bushes  announced  that 
the  "  Romans"  were  becoming  overpowered  by  sleep. 
The  townsmen  were  sometimes  amused  at  their  fishing. 
A  half-a-dozen  Indians  wading  up  the  river,  and  push- 


*  Mr.  David  Cook,  a  settler  of  Punted  Post,  met,  while  moving 
up,  300  Indians  on  the  Chimney  Narrows,  who  were  goibg  to  the 
Treaty.  On  their  return  they  were  detained  for  a  long  time  at 
Painted  Post  by  a  great  snow-storm,  till  they  could  make  snow- 
shoes,  gpreatly  to  the  annoyance  of  the  settlers. 


^5 


s  belts, 
j.,.f  Thus 
[le  Con- 
.*  But 
ncn,  the 
le.  The 
nds,  and 
d  savage 
ronounce 
ark-eyed 
:e  stage- 

,  proved 
lortlon  of 
ite  place 
es  at  the 
.  Here, 
;ing  and 
singular 
occasions 
knives  of 
e  fainter 
need  that 
by  sleep, 
r  fishing, 
nd  push- 

lile  movmg 
oibg  to  the 
tig  time  at 
Dake  snow- 


ing a  canoe  before  them,  Trould  spear  their  boat  half- 
full  of  fish  in  an  incredibly  short  time,  and  sell  their 
cargo  for  a  mere  trifle.  The  spear  was  but  a  pole 
with  a  nail  in  the  end  of  it. 

About  thirty  years  ago,  Mr.  Joshua  Stephens,  a 
young  man  of  Canisteo,  was  found  dead  in  the  woods, 
having  been  shot  by  two  rifle  balls.  The  murder  had 
been  evidently  committed  by  Indians.  Two  of  these, 
named  Curly-eye  and  Sundown,  were  arrested  on  sus- 
picion of  having  committed  the  deed,  and  were  after- 
wards tried  at  Bath.  The  affair  created  a  great  sen- 
sation, and  the  trial  was  attended  by  a  large  concourse 
of  people.  Ked  Jacket  and  other  prominent  chiefs 
were  present.  The  evidence  against  the  prisoners 
was  of  a  strong  character',  but  they  were  acquitted. 
After  this  event  the  Indians  became  shy  and  evacuated 
the  county,  and  never  again  returned  except  in  strag- 
gling bands.  '^*^'*'«^ 

■  'We  have  been  told,  on  pretty  good  authority,  of  an 
*^  Indian-hater"  living  near  the  mouth  of  Mud  Creekf 
in .  the  town  of  Bath,  many  years  ago.  A  settler  in 
that  neighborhood  was  requested  one  morning  by  one 
of  his  neighbors  to  go  out  to  the  woods  and  help  him 
bring  in  a  large  buck  which  he  had  shot.  Oncom- 
ing at  the  designated  place,  the  hunter  opened  a  pile 
of  brush,  and  showed  his  companion  the  dead  body  of 
an  Indian.  He  said  that  his  father's  family  bad  been 
massacred  by  the  savages  in  the  Revolution,  ahd  sihce 
that  event  he  had  killed  every  Indian  he  could  meet  in 
d  convenient  place.    This  was  nearly  the  twentieth, 

'-'-   '    22*  '*? 


r  «■«  w^*w  4A  4'> 


^9 


INDIAN  NAMES,  ETC. 


Mi 


Iji 


The  Indians  and  their  institutions  can,  upon  the 
whole,  be  spared  from  our  social  system^  though  there 
are  not  wanting  those  who  find  it  in  their  hearts  to  de- 
plore the  4eca7  of  both — a  melanoholj  thing  to  th^pk 
of,  truly.  Yct^,  when  it  is  considered  how  many  of 
their  practices  were  irreconcilable  with  the  maxims  of 
distinguished  jurists,  the  most  enthusiastic  admirer  of, 
barbarism  n^ust  admit  that  the  preservation  of  the, 
statutes  and  ceremonies  of  the  Long  Ifonse  would  be 
attended,  at  least,  with  inconYenience.  The  tomahawk, 
the  scalping  knife  and  the  javelinj  are  properly,  we 
think,  excluded  from  the  accoutrements  of  a  well- 
dressef^,  civilized  man,  and  we  are  quite  sure  that  an 
enlightened  public  opinion  would  frown  upon  that  grave 
an4  respectable  citizen,  who,  out  of  respect  for  the 
earliest  inhabitants  of  the  county,  should  appear  at 
tp^vi^rmeie^ing,  at  church,  or  at  any  other  public /as- 
semblage, painted  with  red  paint  and, black,  decorated 
^.^h^  porcupine  quills,  and  arrayed  in  a  crimson  blan- 
kiet^  A,  cultivated  community  will  always  entertain,, 
sept^ijafiats  of  reverence, for  ancicot  fashions^  and  for 
the.  cusjtpms  of  former  generations;  yet,  would  notr 
such  a  spectacle  as  that  of  the  elderly  gentlemen  and 
ojlergy  of;  th^  county,  shrieking,  howling,  and  dancing, 
tbe  giw^d  War-Dance  around  a  post  in  the  Public. 
SqvHure  of  the  shire  town,  fill  the  mind  of  a  judicious, 
mftn  ,with  melaocholy  foreibodings  with  regaifd  to  the, 
samtj  of  such  elderly  gentlemen  and  divines  T  There, 
are  yet  certain  vestiges  of  the  ancient  tribe&for  which 


247 


Uk 


pOQ   tbj9 

;h  there 
A  to  de- 
to  thipk 
nany  of 
xims  of 
uirer  of. 
1  of  th9. 
ould  be 
lahAvky 
5rly,  we 
a  well-, 
that  an 
at  grave 
for  the 
)p9ar  at 
ibUo,«s- 
ecorated 
on  blan- 
ntertain, 
and  for 
aid  notr 
nen  and 
dancing 

Publio 
udicioua. 
1  to  the, 

There 
or  which 


men  of  taste  and  learning  earnestly  plead — the  names 
which  they  attached  to  their  lakes,  rivers,  towns  and 
castles.  Whether  deep  and  sonorous  as  Otsego^  Ni- 
agara, Cayuga,  Tioga,  Onondagua,  or  light  and  musical 
as  Unadilla,  Wyalumog,  Canisteo,  Susquehanna,  or 
abrupt  and  warlike  a.s  Mohawk,  Conhocton,  Shemokin, 
Tunkhannook,  the  names  given  by  the  Six  Nations, 
were  sweet  or  heroic  of  sound.  The  barbarous  dialects 
which  give  us  Penobscot  and  Passamaq noddy,  or  the 
still  more  atrocious  Chuttahooohie,  Okechobee,  Tom- 
bigby,  Withlacoochie  and  other  frightful  words  which 
prick  tho  Southern  ear,  (though  atonod  for  by  the 
noble  Alabama,  Catawba,  Savannah,)  and  the  utterly 
heathenish  Micbilimacinac,  Pottawoctamio,  Oshkosh, 
Kaskaskia  and  Winnipeg,  of  the  North  West,  are  fit 
for  Ghouls,  and  *'  men  whose  heads  do  grow  beneath 
their  shoulders."  iu^ 

f  A  lecture  may  profitably  be  read  on  the  subject  of 
names  to  people  of  our  own  and  adjoining  counties,  and 
in  doing  so  we  do'  but-  echo  what  has  been  frequently 
proclaimed  through  other  trumpets.     The  American 
map  looks  like  a  geographical  joke.     We  name  oar > 
towns  after  alL  heroes,  from  Hector  to  General  Lopez^*-- 
after  all  patriots,  from  Maiccabeas  to  Daniel  ShaylS'-^ 
after  all  beasts,  birds,  fishes,  and  creeping  things — to^ 
which  there  is  certainly  no  objection,  but  one  may 
plead  that  when  we  have  exhausted  Plutarch's  Lives, 
and  the  Pension  Roll,  a  few  of  the  fine  old  Indian 
names  may  be  recovered.     In  our  own  county,  the^ 
musical  and  forest-like  Tuscarora^ytBA  chen^^  first  to 
Middletowny  which  caused  confusion  in  the  m&ils,  (thiElt ' 


UB 


Hi 


popular  name  having  been  fairly  grabbed  by  other 
towns  which  were  so  lucky  as  to  stand  half  way  be- 
tween two  places,)  and  afterwards  to  Addistmy  in 
honor,  probably,  of  the  essnyist,  who  never  saw  a 
stump,  a  raft,  or  a  saw-mill.  The  post-office  of  Tehe- 
hanna  was  lately  changed  to  Mtai,  which  is  a  moun<-' 
tain  range  in  the  antipodes,  and  would  lead  strangers 
to  suppose  that  Tyrone  was  settled  by  Siberians.  Our 
neighbors  of  Chemung  became  disgusted  at  the  odd, 
but  significant  and  historical  name  of  Horse-heads, 
(being  the  place  where  Gen.  Sullivan  killed  his  horses,) 
and  elegantly  changed  it  to  Fair-port,  indicating,  we 
suppose,  that  scows  on  the  Chemung  Canal  are  there 
secure  from  tempests.  It  is  unfortunate  that  the 
schoolmaster  was  out  of  town  when  the  change  was' 
made,  for  the  offending  Saxon  might  have  been  dis- 
guised under  the  magnificent  syllables  of  Hippocephali. 
At  the  head  of  Seneca  Lake  lived  for  many  years  a 
famous  Indian  Queen,  Catharine  Montour,  a  half- 
breed,  and  surmised  to  have  been  a  daughter  of  Count 
Frontenao.  Her  village  was  known  far  and  wide  as 
Catharim*s  Town,  They  now  call  it  Jefferson — an 
act  of  ^^  proscription"  Which  the  great  republican 
would  have  scowled  at.*  Painted  Post  will  probably 
have  to  go  next  under  the  reign  of  refinement — a  capi- 
tal name,  suggestive,  historical  and  picturesque.  If 
it  is  desirable  to  be  known  abroad,  citizens  of  that  viU^ 
lage  will  do  well  to  let  the  name  stand  as  it  is,  for 


*  The  actual  Tillage  may  bare  been  a  little  out  of  town—bat  thai 


"^v^f^M^. 


erepce. 


1  1 


!  ■i-'ii-.'j  iv^^ixn  ,r.Tj' 


•«i'- 


24d 


'while  Painted  Post  will  arrest  the  stranger's  eye  more 
quickly  perhaps  than  any  other  name  on  the  map,  of 
Western  New  York,  if  this  is  changed  to  Siam  or 
Senegamhia,  Ajax  or  Coriolanus,  or  any  other  title 
which  the  fashion  of  the  day  requires,  the  Painted 
Posters  cannot  hope  to  he  distinguished  from  the  mob 
of  citizens  who  dwell  in  villages  bearing  the  names 
of  foreign  kingdoms,  and  heroes  of  the  **  Silurian 
epoch." 

Similar  advice  is  ready  for  our  neighbors  at  the  foot 
of  Crooked  Lake  whenever  it  may  be  called  for. 
Penn-  Yan  is  undoubtedly  a  very  queer  word — rather 
Chinese  at  least — and  when  pronounced  with  the 
favorite  twang  of  our  ancients,  Pang  Yang,  the  sound 
is  as  clearly  ^^  celestial"  as  Yang-Kiang,  and  the 
stranger  would  expect  to  find  the  village  adorned  by 
Mandarins  and  Joshes,  and  to  see  the  populace,  from 
the  seniors  down,  diverting  themselves  with  kites, 
fire-crackers  and  lanterns.  For  the  relief  of  puzzled 
philologists,  however,  it  may  be  explained  that  the 
vrord  was  710/  imported  in  a  tea-chrat,  but  was  made 
from  the  first  syllables  of  the  words  Pennsylvanian  and 
Yankee,  and  indicates  the  races  of  the  first  settlers. 
It  should  by  no  means  be  disturbed. 

It  is  a  pity  that  so  many  fine  villages  of  Western 
New  York  are  saddled  with  names  absurdly  borrowed 
from  the  Old  World.  It  would  seem  as  if  Congress 
had  granted  bounty  lands  to  heroes  of  the  Trojan  and 
Punic  wars ;  at  all  events,  the  names  of  those  old 
veterans  are  affixed  to  more  townships  than  there  were 
sons  of  Priam     BuiTalo,  Oswego,  Canandaigua  and 


*"^y 


m 

Genesee,  are  almost  the  only  towns  of  importance 
which  have  escaped  the  Greeks  and  Romans. 
'"Our  own  country  must  confess  itself  to  be  destitute 
of  European  or  classical  townships,  but  can  yet  boast 
of  very  illustrious  neighbors.  We  have  but  to  step 
over  our  Northern  boundary  to  "  see  Naples  and  die.*' 
The  distance  from  Naples  to  Italy,  though  greater 
here  than  it  is  in  Europe,  is  yet  but  inconsiderable, 
while  the  distance  from  Italy  to  Jerusalem  is  less  than 
in  the  Old  World.  In  fact,  the  city  of  David  here 
abuts  the  land  of  Csesar.  On  the  Eastern  side  of  the 
county  behold  the  hero  Hector,  a  brown  Republican 
farmer,  shaking  no  more  the  bloody  spear  as  he  looks 
from  his  Orchards  into  the  waters  of  Seneca,  having 
long  since  exchanged  the  chariot  for  the  horse -rake. 
His  old  antagonist,  Ulysses,  has  located  his  land- 
warrant  in  the  next  range.  On  the  West  Ossian 
howls  his  humbugs  in  the  latitude  of  Loon  Lake,  and 
Snxbn  Alfred  lives  unmolested  by  marauding  Danes. 
The  Spartans  have  colonized  the  adjoining  corner  of 
Livingston  County,  and  appear  to  have  quite  given  up 
black  broth  and  laconics.  The  Athenians  are  to  be 
foulid  at  the  mouth  of  the  Chemung,*  and  when  the 
up-river  raftmen,  whooping  and  yelling,  steer  their 
rafts  down  the  spring-flood,  the  citizens  of  the  town 
are  probably  reminded  of  the  time  when  the  Goths 
came  with  similar  uproar  through  the  Hellespont,  and 
sacked  their  city — a  blow  from  which,  judging  from 
the  present  state  of  the  fine  arts  at  Tioga  Pdnt,  it 

*  Alhent,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Chemung,  was  formerly  Tioga 
Point.    The  old  name  shows  sense,  the  new  one  the  want  of  it. 


rtauce 

Btitate 
b  boaist 

0  step 

1  die>' 
greater 
erable, 
3S  than 
d  here 
>  of  the 
ublican 
e  looks 
having 
e-rake. 
}  land- 
Oman 

ke,  and 
Danes. 
)rner  of 
iven  up 
re  to  be 
hen  the 
ir  their 
le  town 
Goths 
tnt,  and 
ig  from 
>oint,  it 

ly  Tioga 
of  it. 


I 


251 

1^  would  seem  that  the  seat  of  the  muses  never  re- 
covered. ,!, 

Crooked  Lake  is  the  translation  of  Keuka,  the  ab- 
original name.  Conhocton  signifies  eome-together.  It 
is  sometimes  erroneously  rendered  Trees -in'-the-wtiier. 
Five  Mile  Creek  was  formerly  called  Canonu  Gen. 
McClure  says  that  Bath  bore  the  name  of  Tanighna- 
guanda,  by  no  means  a  euphonious  one.  Chemung  is 
^  said  to  mean  Big-hone*  The  tradition  that  the  iden* 
tical  bone  by  which  the  name  was  si^ested,  was 
taken  from  the  river-bank  by  boatmen  after  the  settle- 
ment must  be  erroneous.  The  Indians  had  a  village 
and  corn-field  near  Elmirai  at  the  time  of  Sullivan's 
expedition,  named  CJiemung^  and  the  river  was  called 
the  Chemung  Branch.  Further  information  concerning 
the  aboriginal  names  of  localities  in  this  county  W9 
cannot  give,  and  woul4  be  glad,  to  |;i?ceive.  i 


GAME,  £TC^ 


Iv 


.,f, 


r  It  is  said  in  a  manuscript,  consulted  in  the  prepara^ 
tion  of  this  volume,  that  **  Many  of  the  hunters  esti- 
mated that  there  were  from  five  to  ten  d^er  on  every 
hundred  acres  of  land  in  the,qpunty,or  in  tjbat  prcpor- 
tipnthrougnout  the  country  over  which  they  hinted. 
The  probability  is,  that  this  estimate  would  not  be  too 
bigh  for  many  parts  of  the  forest  whic|v  were  favpr^le 
haunts  of  the  deer,  but  then  there  wouH  b^  f  ther  traptp 
which  they  frequented  bnt  little,  so  that  for  tHe.:\y hole 
extent  of  territory  embraced  r  in  the  present  limjt%  of 
the  county,  equal  to  about  900,000  acres,  it  would 


252 

probably  be  correct  to  estimate  that  at  the  first  settle- 
ment of  the  country,  there  were,  on  an 'average,  as 
many  as  four  deer  for  every  hundred  acres  of  land— ^ 
making  the  number  within  the  present  limits  of  the 
county,  not  less  than  36,000. 

An  intelligent  and  respectable  man,  who  came  from 
PeiinsylVania  among  the  first  emigrants  from  that 
State,  used  to  relate  that  in  the  fall  of  the  year  1790, 
ot  1791,  two  young  men  came  from  near  Northum- 
berland up  the  rivers  in  a  canoe,  on  a  hunting  expedi- 
tion, built  a  lodge  at  the  mouth  of  Smith's  Creek,  on 
the  Conhocton,  and  hunted  in  that  neighborhodd.  In 
the  course  of  two  months  they  killed  upwards  of  two 
fatMdred  deer,  several  elk,  some  bears  and  three  pan- 
thers. Elk  were  at  that  time  quite  numerous  in  most 
parts  of  the  county,  and  were  found  south  of  the 
Ganisteo  Rivet,  ten  or  fifteen  years  aft^.  They  also 
killed  a  number  of  wolves,  fbxes  and  martins,  and  a 
few  beaver.  The  hunters  preserved  as  much  of  the 
venison  as  they  could,  and  with  that  and  the  skins 
they  had  taken,  they  loaded  two  large  canoes,  and 
^rly  in  the  winter  returned  to  Northumberland,  where 
they  sold  tbeil*  cargoes  fbr  upwards  of  $300. 

Sixty  y^i^  of  persebUtidn  with  hounds  and  lifle  have 
iiot:  t^xterminiKt^d  th^  deer;  but,  as  may  well  be  be- 
lieved, the  buck  that  now  shakes  hii  horns  in  the 
fbirest,  does  so  with  little  of  that  confidence  with  which 
in  former  times  his  predecessors  tossed  aloft  their 
'antlers.  '  In  twenty-four  hours  his  ribft  may  be  smokL 
ihg  on  the  dintter-table  of  a  hotel,  his  hide  may  be 
Steeping  ia  the  vats  of  the  mitten-makerSj  and  his 


ettle- 
56,  a8 
Bind — 
)f  the 

efrom 
i  tbat 
1790, 
thum- 


sek,  on 
d.  In 
of  two 
50  pan- 
in  most 

of  the 
ey  also 

and  a 

of  the 
Q  skins 
38,  and 

,  where 

Qe  hikVh 
be  be- 
in  the 
which 
ft  their 
e  smoki^ 
maybe 
and  his 


hortis'may  be  grating  under  the  rasps  of  the  men  that 
make  cane-heads  and  knife-bandies.  In  the  days  be- 
fore the  conquest,  notwithstanding  the  depredations  of 
the  wolves  and  Indians,  the  deer  constantly  increased 
in  numbers,  or  at  bast  held  their  own,  and  lived  in  a 
high  state  of  exhilaration.  It  was  a  fine  sight,  that  of 
a  full-grown  buck  racing  through  the  woods,  clearing 
"  fifteen  to  twenty  feet,  often  twenty-five  feet,  and 
sometimes  more  than  thirty  feet  of  ground,  at  a  single 
jump."  The  last  elk  killed  in  the  county  was  shot 
in  the  town  of  Lindley,  about  jorty  years  ago. 

As  for  the  wolves,  history  despairs  of  doing  them 
justice.  They  deserve  a  poet.  How  they  howled, 
and  howled,  and  howled ;  how  they  snarled  and  snap- 
ped at  the  belated  woodsman ;  how  they  killed  the 
pigs  and  the  sheep  ;  how  they  charmed  the  night  with 
their  long  drawn  chorus,  so  frightful  that  *Mt  was 
enou^  to  take  the  hair  off  a  man's  head,"  and  yet  so 
dismally  hideous  that  it  could  not  but  be  laughed  at 
by  the  youngsters — all  these  must  be  imagined ;  words 
are  too  feeble  to  do  justice  to  the  howling  of  one  wolf 
in  the  day  time,  much  less  to  the  howling  of  ten  wolves 
at  night,  iti  the  depth  of  a  hemlock  forest.  Each  pack 
had  its  chorister,  a  grizzled  veteran,  perhaps,  who 
might  have  Idst  a  paw  in  some  settler^s  trap,  or  whose 
shikttered  thigh  declared  hitn  a  martyr  for  the  publib 
good.  This  son  of  the  Miises,  beginning  with  k  for-^;' 
loniancl  quavering  howl,  executed  a  few  bars  in  sold ;  ' 
then  the  whole  gang  broke  in  W?th  miracles  of  discord, 
as  in  a  singing  school  the  full  voiced  choir  shouts  id'^' 
chorus,  after  the  teacher  has  shown  them  '**  ho^  that  ' 
23 


254 


chromatic  passage  ought  to  be  execated."    AU  the, 
parts  recognised  b^  the  scientific,  were  carried  by  these 
''  minions  of  the  moon."    Some  moaned  in  barytone, 
some  yelled  in  soprano,  and  the  intermediate  discords 
were  howled  forth  upon  the  night  air  in  a  style  that 
would  make  a  jackall  shiver.     The  foreign  musician, 
awaked  from  his  dreams  by  such  an  anthem,  might 
well  imagine  himself  fallen  from  a  land  where  the  Red 
Republicans  had  it  all  their  own  way,  and  having  abro- 
gated the  rules  of  rythm  and  dynamics,  with  other 
arbitrary  and  insufferable  vestiges  of  the  feudal  system, 
had  established  musical  socialism.    The  wolves  and 
tiieir  howling  linger  more  vividly  than  any  other  ii^an ; 
tures  of  the  wilderness  iu  the  memory  of  old  settle^e^^i 
It  is  only  within  a  few  years  that  they  found  the  landi 
too  hot  for  them*     It  is  not  a  great  while  since,  tb^^ 
citjizens  of  the  shire  town  were  occasionally  behowled; , 
from  the  Rpllway  Hills,  and  among  those  who,  fiCteej^ 
years  ago,  were  very  youn^  school-boys,  the  memory 
is  yet  green  of  that  day  when  the  weightiest  and  grav^j 
eat  of  tho  townsmen,  with  mai^y  others  who  were  not 
quite  60  weighty  and  grave,  sallied  forth^  with  the 
avpyred  purpose  of  exterminating  the.  wqlyes  whicb ., 
luri^^jd  in  Uie  surrounding  hills^^a  campa^lgn;  baitr^D;(f 
of  ti^opble^  in^^d^  bi:|t  whjch  must  have  carried  disTai 
m]i^  l^to  the  ^ouncil^^  9^.^!^P  ^^^y^  &nd.  9opv^Qe^4]» 
them  of  the  uselessness  of  opposition  to  their  ^^ma^ij^,^ 
fest^  destiny."    A  few  members  of  this  ancient  fi^pni]j[o{ 
may  yet  lurk  in  the  wild  p9xiier^,  qf  \)xq  country,  b^^^jj 
the,  .more  discreet ;  l^aye  withdraw^  t^  tile  soUtad^sp^xi 


Pennsylvania.^     ..h  avoih  rlm 


Ul  the, 
f  these 
pytone, 
iscords 
le  that 
isician,' 
might 
[leRed 
g  ahro- 
i  other 
lystem, 
es  and 
er  ft|a-5|^ 

3ttleiJ8[,i; 


le  land 


T 


fce.th^q 
howle4; , 

fifteex^ 
oemory 
I  grav^j 
ere  not 
th  the 

"^hJph  . 
hairr^n.,f 

^d  4»8Tiir 


ttdesoC-;. 

i  ,yuuuio 


255 

The  panfhers  have  vanished ,  bide  and  hair,  leaving 
a  reputation  like  that  of  the  Caribs.  The  "  painter," 
in  lack  of  lions,  must  always  be  the  hero  of  desperate 
hunting  tales,  and  were  it  not  for  the  too  well  estab- 
lished fact  that  his  valor  was  rather  freely  tempered 
with  discretion,  he  would  be  a  highly  available  cha- 
racter for  the  novelists.  Except  when  wounded,  they 
were  not  feared.  Though  powerful  of  frame  and  fe- 
rocious of  face,  they  belied  physiognomy  and  were 
generally  quite  willing  to  crawl  off,  or  at  most  to  stand 
at  bay  when  met  by  the  hunters.  This  forbearance, 
it  must  be  confessed,  arose  not  so  much  from  sweet- 
ness of  temper  as  from  a  bashfulness  which  almost 
amounted  to  cowardice.  They  disappointed  the  ex- 
pectations of  their  friends,  and  invariably  forsook  their 
backers  before  coming  up  fairly  to  the  "  scratch." 
However,  the  fierce  face,  the  lion-like  proportions,  (they 
were  from  seven  to  ten  feet  long,)  and  the  collusion  of 
the  novelists,  have  proved  top  much  for  the  truth,  and 
the  "Great  Northern  Panther"  at  this  day  rivals  in 
popularity  Captain  Kyd  and  Black-Beard.  When 
e^sperated  by  wounds  he  showed,  hiniself  worthy  of 
this  high  favor,  but  under  ordinary  provocation  he  was 
ficarcely  more  terrible  than  a  wood -chuck.  For  in- 
stance, a  housewife,  who  owned  Ireland  as  her  native 
land,  while  attending  to  her  domestic  duties  in  the 
cabin,  heard  signals  of  distress  among  the  pigs^  On 
going  out  to  see  what  had  befallen  her  porkers,  she 
found  a  fine  shdat  attacked  by  a  panther.  It  was  evi- 
dently the  fiirsi  acquaintance  of  the  robber  with 
animals  of  this"  species,  for  as  often  as  he  sprang  upon 


356 


the  back  of  his  prey,  the  pig  squealed  dismally,  and 
the  panther  bounced  off  in  amazement,  as  if  he  had 
alighted  upon  a  hot  stove.  The  lady  ran  screaming, 
and  with  arms  uplifted,  to  rescue  her  pig,  and  the 
**  Great  North  American  Panther,"  instead  of  anni- 
hilating both  pig  and  *^  lady-patroness"  on  the  spot, 
scrambled  into  the  top  of  a  tree  with  evident  alarm. 
The  woman  sent  her  husband  straightway  to  fetch 
Patterson  the  hunter  with  his  rifle,  and  stood  under 
the  tree  to  blockade  the  enemy.  Several  times  the 
latter  offered  to  come  down,  but  his  intrepid  sentry 
screamed  and  made  such  violent  gestures,  that  the 
panther  drew  back  in  consternation.  The  hunter  came 
in  an  hour  or  so  and  shot  it  just  as  it  took  courage  to 
spring.  ...^ 

,  The  bear,  too — the  wise,  respectable  and  indepenrr 
dent  bear  was,  in  early  times,  a  citizen  of  substance 
and  consideration.     Statistics  concerning    him    are 
wanting.    Disturbed  by  bone-breaking  bullets  in  his 
berry  gardens  and  plum  orchards,  blinded  by  gusts  of 
buckshot  that  blew  into  his  face  as  he  put  his  head  out , 
of  his  parlor  window,  punched  with  sharp  sticks  by 
malicious  youngsters  as  he  sat  nursing  his  woundedf 
hams  in  the  seclusion  of  a  hollow  log,  plagued  by. 
ferocious  traps  which  sometimes  pinched  his  feet,  somen 
times  grasped  his  investigating  nose  with  teeth  of  steelj^  ^ 
assailed  in  his  wooden  tower  by  axe-men  hewing  at  its 
basis,  while  boys  with  rifles  waited  for  its  downfall—-;^ 
the  bear,  we  say,  distressed  by  a  line  of  conduct  that  ^ 
rendered  his  existence  precarious,  emigrated  to  they 
mountains  of  the  Key  Stone  Sta.te  in  disgust.  ■      , '    •  ^ 


lly,  and 
he  had 
3ainingy 
ind  the 
f  anni- 
le  spot, 
alarm. 

0  fetch 

1  under 
nes  the 

sentry 
lat  the 
er  came 
rage  tp. 

idepenr - 
bstance 
m    are 

in  his 
;u8te  of 
sad  oufc . 
cks  by' 
ounded 
led  by 

some-^ 
f  steelj^  ^ 
;  at  its 
Qfall^ 
ct  tbat:^ 

to  til© , 


2^ 

As '  for  the  lesser  tribes,  known  as  wild-cats,  catf^  ^^^ 
mounts  and  lynxes,  there  were  flourishing  families  of 
those  creatures  in  all  parts  of  the  Und,  and  they  vc),!j 
still  occasionally  heard  from  in  the  outer  districts. ^|^ 
The  last  one  worthy  of  historical  notice  prowled  for  a;.,, 
time  in  the  interior  woods,  but  his  head  at  last  pre-,{} 
eminent  aipong  the  heads  and  tails  of  racoons  and. 
wood-chucks,  adorned  the  Log  Cabin  of  Bath  in  thoi^ 
picturesque  election  of  1 840-      t^-  .^ 

There  were  but  few  beaver  remaining  in  the  streams  ^.^ 
at  the  time  of  the  settlement.  The  lively  trade  in  ,r^ 
peltry  which  had  been  carried  on  between  the  Indians  ,[^ 
and  Europeans  was  attended  with  a  disastrous  loss  of... ^^ 

fur  to  those  poor  creatures.    In  1794  there  were  a  few 

beaver  remaining  in  Mud  Lake,  but  the  renowned, 
Patterson  set  his  eye  upon  them,  and  soon  appeared  j, 
on  the  harmonious  shores  of  that  secluded  pond  with  .,.. 
his  arms  full  of  traps.    Seven  of  the  beaver  were,  . 
caught,  the  eighth  and  lasi  escaped  with  the  loss  of  a  ^ 
paw.     These  were  the  last    beaver    taken  in  this    . 
county.     About  twenty-five  years  ago  a  single  beaver^  ^ 
appeared  in  the  Tioga,  and  even  showed  his  nose  on,,|| 
the  farm  pf  the  old  trapper.    He  was  a  traveller.     He 
visited  various  parts  of  the  river,  as  agent  perhaps  for  ^ 
some  discontented    colony  on  another    stream,   butr 
probably  discouraged  by  the  farms  and  saw-mills,  left  . 
the  upper  waters  and  appeared  next  in  the  lower 
Chemung.     He  imprudently  went  upon  an  island  of  a  r 
snowy  morning ;  Canisteo  raftmen  tracked  him  to  |^ .  , 
corn-stout,  beset,  slew  and  skinned  him,  and  delivered 

his  hide  to  the  hatters.     The  streams,  though  depopu- 
23* 


\yu 


258 


J 


i 


IB 


lated  of  beaver,  abounded  with  fish,  and  contained  for 
many  years  fine  shad  and  salmon. 

Rattlesnakes  will  conclude  this  catalogue  of  wor- 
thies.    It  has  been  previously  intimated  that  thesfr 
deadly  reptiles  flourished  in  certain  places  in  large 
tribes.     To  say  that  there  were  thousands  of  them  in 
the  Conhocton  valley  among  the  pines,  would  be  to 
speak  modestly.     The  incident  related  of  Patterson, 
the  hunter,  in  a  previous  chapter  of  this  volume,  is 
sometimes  told  in  a  different  form.     It  is  told  on  ex- 
cellent authority,  that  he  and  his  dog  were  goins  down 
the  river  trail,  and  killed  rattlesnakes  by  daylight,  till 
the  odor  of  them  made  him  sick,  and  till  his  dog,  which  . , 
was  ah  expert  snake-fighter,  refused  to  touch  them  any  ^^-t 
more^ — (an  active  dog  will  dance  around  a  snake,  dash    f 
suddenly  in,  snatch  it  up  in  his  teeth,  and  shake  it  to  „ 
death.) — It  then  becoming  dark,  he  took  the  river  and  ,^ 
waded  two  miles  to  its  mouth.    There  is  another  story  :  t 
touching  snakes,  which  history  will  not  willingly  let  ^ 
die.    The  hero  of  the  tale,  it  may  be  premised,  was 
the  narrator  of  it,  and  the  sole  witness  to  the  facts. 
An  old  settler  of  this  country  was  once  journeying 
through  the  woods,  and  when  night  came,  found  him-  J 
self  in  a  district  infested  by  rattlesnakes,  numbers  of  ■ 
which  were  twisting  their  tails  in  the  bushes  in  great 
indignation.     Fearful  that  if  he  lay  on  the  ground  he 
would  wake  up  in  the  morning  with  his  pockets  full  of  j. 
snakes,  (for  they  are  extremely  free  to  snug  up  to  ,r> 
sleepers  on  chilly  nights,  to  enjoy  the  warmth  of  the 
human  body,)  in  which  case,  it  would  be  a  delicate  thing 
to  pull  them  out,  he  placed  a  pole  across  two  crotched  j  • 


26ft  2 


,r 


id  for 

wor- 
these 
large 
em  in 
be  to 
^rson, 
ae,  is 
n  ex- 
down 
It,  tin 
which 
many 
,  dash  J 

Mt   to  CT 

iT  and  .^ 

'iO 


I 


q 

B 

til 


Story 
ly  let 

was 
facts, 
leying 

him 


-.a 


ers  of 

great 
nd  he 
ruU  of 
up  to  ,,^ 
)f  the 

thing 
>tched.,jfr 


03 


stakes,  and  slept  on  the  pole.  His  slomhers  were  sound '» 
and  refreshing.  In  the  morning  he  found  himself  on  ■> 
his  roost  with  no  serpents  in  his  pockets,  his  boots,  his  ^ 
hat,  or  his  hair,  and  obseryed,  moreover,  that,  during  A 
his  sleep,  he  had  unconsciously  turned  over  from  his  -t 
ri£rht  side  to  his  left.  { 

So  much  for  rattlesnakes.     Concerning  other  kinds  ^r 
of  serpents — black  snakes,  racers,  and  the  like  of  which:!; 
there  was  no  lack  in  this  bailiwick,  we  have  nothing  to 
offer — not  from  disrespect,  but  from  ignorance. 

The  chase,  as  we  have  seen,  was  not  often  attended 
with  peril;  yet  there  were  times  when  the  hunter  was  ^^ 
obliged  to  move  briskly  for  his  life.    The  wounded 
panther  was  a  dangerous  enemy.     Men  have  been  kill- 1 ; 
ed  by  them.     A  noted  Canisteo  hunter  once  hurt  one>>v7 
of  these  animals  with  a  rifle  ball,  and  ittsprang  upottii^ 
his  dog  as  the  first  adversary  it  met.    Knowing  thatt^^o 
himself  would  bo  the  ppxt  victim,  the'^hunter  closed  i.[ 
with  the  [ferocious  beast  and  killed  it  with  his  knife.  Hi! 
As  it  lay  upon  the  grou||^  aftep^the  fight,  flight  feet  or  ^' 
more  in  length,  it  looked  like  a  lion,  and  the  hunter  "was 
astonished  at  his  boldness. 

A  Justice  of  the  Peace;  in  one  of  the  outer  towns  hadif 
once  occasion  for  a  little  practice,  not  provid^^d  for  in 
the  ^^Magistrate's  Manual."  Relieving  his  judicial 
cares  by  the  pleasures  of  the  cl^ase,  he  one  day  met  a 
great  panther  which  he  severely  wounded,  but  did  not 
immediately  cripple  it.  The  monster,  enraged  at  the 
tort,  attacked  him  furiously.  The  plaintiif  in  the  case 
found  himself  unexpectedly  made  defendant.  The 
books  suggested  no  proceeding  for  relief  in  such  a 


'ji. 


«thinge  turn  of  affairs,  and  he  was  obliged  to  fall  baek-^ 
on  first  principles.     He  dealt  a  rousing  blow  with  his'^ 
gun)  and  then  dexterously  seized  the  panther's  tail.  ° 
A  novel  action  ensued,  which  was  neither  trover  nor  ^ 
replevin.     The  plaintiff',  though  partially  disabled,  had'" 
yet  so  much  of  his  former  enormous  strength,  that^^^ 
when  he  turned  with  a  savage  growl  to  bite  the  defen- 
duit,  the  latter,  by  jerking  with  all  his  might,  baffled  ^^ 
the  manoeuvre  of  his  antagonist.    This  odd  contest,''^ 
worthy  of  record  in  the  "  Crockett  Almanac,"  lasted ^^ 
a  good  while — jerking  this  way,  jerking  that  way,  re- 
joinder and  sur- rejoinder,  rebutter  and  sur-rebutter— •  " 
till  at  length  the  panther  became  so  weak  from  loss  at 
blood,  that  the  guardian  of  the  people's  peace  could^^^ 
work  the  ropes  with  one  l^and  ;  when  resuming  his  po-'^^ 
sition  as  "plaintiff,  be  speedily  entered  up  final  judgment . 
against  the  defendant  with  a  hunting  knife,  and  seized  , 
bi»  scalp  for  costs.     This  is  a  true  story,  (as  also  ard'. 
all  other  stories  in  this  book)  and  can  be  proved  by  a  '^ 
Supervisor,  a  Justice  of  life  Pea#fe,  and  a  Town  Clerk. 

A  Canisteo  hunter  was  once  watching  a  deer  lick  at  ^ 
night.     A   large  tree  had  partially  fallen  ikear  the  '^ 
spring,  and  he  seated  himself  in  its  branches  several 
feet  above  the  ground.     No  deer  came  down  to  drink. ^^^' 
Towards  midnight  the  tree  was  shaken  by  the  tread  of 
a  visitor. .  It  was   a  huge    panther,   which   slowly- 
walked  up  the  trunk  ktiA  sat  down  on  its  haunches 
within  a  very  few  Jards  »bf  the  hunter.     The  night 
was  clear  and  the^oon  was  shining,  but  the  uneasy 
deerslayer  could  not  see  the  forward  sight  of  his  gun, 
and  did  not  like  to  attempt  the  delicate  feat  of  send.  ^^ 


261 


back 
,h  his 
tail.   ' 
r  nor 
I,  had  - 
that,  ' 
lefen- 
laffled  ^ 
ntest,  ' 
lasted  '^ 
y,  re- 
tter—;'^ 
088  of '^ 
could'^^^ 

-.0 
H8  pO- 

gment  ^'^ 
seized  *. 
80  are 
bya^ 
Jlerk."^ 
ick  at  "^ 
r  the^ 
sveral 

eadof 
lowly 
Dohes 
night 
neasy 
gun, 
send.^^ 


ing  a  bnlle.t  to  the  heart  of  such  a  Hon  so  decisively 
that  there  would  be  no  snarling  or  tearing  of  his  throat 
afterwards.  All  night  long  they  sat  in  mutual  con- 
templation, the  hunter  watching  with  ready  rifle  every 
movement  of  hia  guest ;  while  the  latter,  sitting  witb 
the  gravity  of  a  chancellor,  hardly  stirred  till  day- 
break. As  soon  as  the  light  of  morning  brought  the 
forward  sight  in  view  the  rifle  cracked  and  the  panther 
departed  life  without  a  growl. 

Wolves  seldom  or  never  were  provoked  to  resist- 
ance. The  settler  walking  through  the  woods  at  dusk, 
was  sometimes  intercepted  by  a  gang  of  these  bush- 
pirates,  whom  hunger  and  the  dctrkuess  emboldened  to 
snarl  and  snap  their  teeth  at  his  very  heels ;  but  a 

I  stone  or  a  "  chunk  of  wood"  hurled  at  their  heads  was 

enough  to  make  them  bristle  up  and  stand  on  the  de- 
fensive. They  were  generally  held  in  supreme  con-^ 
tempt.  We  hear  of  a  bouncing  damsel  in  one  of  th& 
settlements  who  attacked  half  a  dozen  of  them  with  a> 
whip,  just  as  they  had  seized  a  pig  and  put  them  to 
flight,  too  late,  however,  to  save  the  life  of  the  unhappy 
porker. 

The  buck,  under  certain  circumstances,  was  a  dan- 
gerous antagonist.  The  following  incident  is  given  in' 
a  manuscript  heretofore  alluded  to :  *'  An  individual 
who  eventually  became  a  leading  man  in  the  county 
and  a  meipber  of  Congress,  once  i^ot  a  buck  near 
Bath.  Ho  loaded  his  gun  and  walked  up  to  the  fallen^ 
deer,  which  was  only  stunned,  the  ball  having  hit  one 
of  his  horns.  When  within  a  few  steps  of  it,  the  deer 
sprang  up  and  rushed  at  him.     He  fired  again,  but  ia 


262 


the  harry  of  th^  moment  missed  his  aim.  Me  then 
clubbed  his  gan  and  strack  at  the  head  of  the  infu- 
riated animal,  but  it  dexterously  parried  the  blow  with 
its  horns  and  knocked  the  rifle  out  of  the  hunter's 
hand  to  the  distance  of  several  yards.  The  hunter 
took  rofoj^e  behind  a  tree,  around  which  the  deer  fol- 
lowed him  more  than  an  hour,  lunging  at  him  with  his 
liorns  so  rapidly  that  the  gentleman  who  *'  eventually 
^ent  to  Congress"  could  not  always  dodge  the  blow, 
but  was  scratched  by  the  tips  of  the  antlers  and  badly 
bruised  on  his  back  and  legs,  and  had  almost  all  his 
•clothes  torn  off.  He  struck  the  deer  several  times 
with  his  knife  indecisively,  but  when  almost  tired  out 
managed  to  stab  him  fairly  just  back  of  the  shoulder. 
The  enemy  hauled  off  to  repair  damages  but  soon  fell 
dead.  The  hunter  threw  himself  upon  the  ground 
utterly  exhausted,  and  lay  several  hours  before  he  had 
strength  to  go  home.  A  man  thus  assailed  was  said 
to  be  "  treed  by  a  buck." 


<*i? 


THE   PLUMPING   MILL. 


1 

rThere  are  few  tribulations  of  the  new  country  about 
irhich  old  settlers  are  more  eloquent  than  those  con- 
nected with  "  going  to  mill."  Grist  mills  being  fab- 
riot  of  civilization,  were  not  of  course  found  in  a  wild 
state  along  the  primitive  rivers.  The  unfortunate  sav- 
age cracked  his  oom  with  a  pestle  and  troubled  his 
head  not  at  all  about  bulkheads  and  tail  races,  and, 
although  his  meal  was  in  consequence  of  a  very  indif- 
ferent qualit^)  yet  It  may  b6  a  question  if  this  was  not 


[e  then 
)  infu- 
w  with 
inter's 
hunter 
)er  fol« 
rith  his 
ntuslly 
e  hlow, 
i  hadly 
all  his 
1  times 
red  out 
loulder. 
oon  fell 
ground 
he  had 
as  said 

•f 

y  about 
se  con- 
ng  fab- 
a  wild 
Ue  say- 
led  his 
ss,  and, 
y  indif- 
was  not 


268 

compensated  for  by  the  freedom  of  the  courts  of  the 
Six  Nations  from  those  thrilling  controversies  about 
flush-boards,  and  drowned  meadows,  and  backwater  on 
the  wheel,  which  do  in  modern  times  confound  the  two 
and  thirty  Circuit  Judges  of  the  Long  House. 

In  1778,  a  grist-mill  and  saw-mill  belonging  to  the 
Indians  and  Tories,  at  their  settlement  of  Unadilla,  the 
only  mills  in  the  Susquehanna  valley  in  this  State,' 
were  burned  by  a  party  of  rangers  and  riflemen.     In 
1790,  four  mills  are  noted  on  the  map  of  Phelps  and 
Gorh^m's  Purchase,  one  in  T.  8,  R.  8  ;  one  in  T.  10,' 
R.  4 ;  one  at  the  Friends'  Settlement  near  Penn  Yan  ; 
one  in  Lindley  town  on  the  Tioga.     Shepard\^  mill  on 
the  Susquehanna,  a  short  distance  above  Tioga  Point, 
was  the  main  dependence  of  our  settlers  till  they  built 
mills  for  themselves.     The  people  of  Painted  Post  and  ^^ 
Canisteo  took  their  grain  down  to  that  mill  for  several^ 
years.  iv.Mto.M**iA-f.rc  nr*  "io  aUiv.  'itclnd  ftf.vr 

There  was,  however,  one  truly  patriarchal  engine*'^ 
which  answered  the  purpose  of  the  grist- milHn  times  of  ^ 
necessity  which  it  ^ould  be  ungrateful  not  toretnem-'^ 
ber.  That  backwoods  machine  known  as' the  Plump-'' 
ing^Mill,  the  Hominy  Block,  the  Samp  Mortar,  or' the'^ 
Corn.  Cracker^  is  now  as  obsolete,  an  engine  ^  as  th^o 
catapult  or.  the  spinning-wheel.  The  gigantic  ired^*^' 
castles  that  cbisstrider  our  streams  rumbling  migl^tiiif|^^' 
with  their. wheels.  andrToUersj^^while  their  miU^^stonefr^'' 
whirling. day  vbA night,  i^ruehthe grains  of  s^ thbiisilfi^^^; 
hills,  are  istractures^  entirely  too  magnvfiibent  tob^  men»''^ 
tioned.  witht.  a>  homely  pl(ici»p«og^milll  Nevertheless^^' 
granting  all  dne^  deference  to  these  portly  and  respect^' 


264 

able  iedifices,  historians  will  insist  that  their  rustic  pre-^ 
deoessors  be  remembered  with  some  degree  of  kind- 
ness. 

The  Plumping  Mill  was  ma^  after  this  wise.   From 
the  outer  edge  of  the  top  of  a  pine  stump,  and  at  a 
little  distance  within  the  extreme  edge,  so  as  to  leave 
a  rim  of  about  half  an  inch  in  breadth,  augur  holes 
were  bored  toward  the  centre  of  the  stump  pointing 
downward  so  as  to  meet  in  a  point  several  inches  below 
the  surface.     Fire  was  placed  on  the  top  of  the  stump, 
which,,  when  it  had  eaten  down  to  the  augur  holes,  was 
sucked  according  to  atmospherical  laws,  through  those 
little  mines  and  burned  out  the  chip  or  conical  block 
nicelj,  It^aving  a  large  deep  bowl.     This  was  ijicraped 
and  polished  with  an  iron  and  the  mill  was  ready  for 
the,  engine.   The  engine  was  a  very  simple  one  of  about 
two  feet  stroke.    From  a  crotcl^ed  post  a  long  sweep 
was  balanced  like  the  swale  of  an  old-fashioned  welLT. 
A  pole,  at  the  end  of  which  was  a  pounder,  was  hung 
from  tb^e  sweep,  and  your  mill  was  made.     The  back*f<r 
woodsman  poured  his  corn  into  the  bowl  of  the  stump, 
and  working  the  piston  like  one  churning,  cracked  hia 
corn  triumphantly.     Modern  mitls,  with  all  their  gor*:ii 
gequs  red  paint  and  puzzling  machinery,  are  uncertain 
aflfairs  at  best — nervous  as  ii.  were  and  whimsical,  dis^ 
turbed  by  droughts  and  freshets,  by  rains  and  highf>  > 
winds,  Uki^irheum^iticbld.gentlieukenr  there  is  always  aivr 
screw  loose  somewhere,  and  thehr  wheels  need  *vfix«i'V 
ingf  al^o|9^  a?  often  aa  xa^  ^'wheels  of  government.'^ til 
Butth^ ;  sturdy  old  Plumping  M^ll  was .  Isubjoet  to'  nw  h 
such  w^hixpsies,  no  more  than  the  raein  of  tthe  frontiers ;  ^ 


265 


tie  pre-' 
kind-' 

From 
nd  at  a 
0  leave 
r  holes 
tointing 
8  below 
stump, 
es,  was 
h  those 
kl  block 
licraped 
ady  for 
>f  about 
;  sweep 
id  welL'/; 
18  hung 

back- 
stamp, 
ked  hit 
eir  gorr^^ 
icertain 
al,  disij  - 
)d  high 
[ways  ai '" 
d*vfix- 
ment.^^i" 
;  to  no 
rentiers 


were  to  dyspepsia,  or  the  women  to  hysterics  and  tant- 
rums. 

The  reflecting  citizen  will  duly  honor  the  old  Plump- 
ing Mill.  It  is  the  pioneer  engine.  It  can  even  now 
be  heard  thumping  on  the  edge  of  the  Far  West, 
thumping  on  the  outer  edge  of  the  Canadas,  and  so 
will  go,  stoutly  thumping  its  way  across  the  Rocky 
Mountains  to  the  Pacific. 


ij 


-U 


..  ^ 


lljeU   10       INCIDENTS   OF  THE  WAR    OP   1812. 

V  At  the  commencement  of  the  War  of  1812, 
the  standing  army  of  our  country  was  a  much 
more  respectable  corps  than  it  is  at  i.'ae  present 
day.  Either  from  modern  degeneracy  or  from  our 
superior  enligiitenmeut,  the  appearance  of  a  pha- 
lanx of  militia  in  any  public  place  in  this  noon 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  is  a  signal  for  universal 
laughter.  Forty  years  ago  it  was  not  so.  Then  the 
army  of  Napoleon  could  not  have  been  much  more  an 
object  of  respect  to  itself  than  the  rustic  regiment 
which  paraded  yearly  in  each  important  village  of 
Western  New  York.  There  were  many  independent 
'companies  of  horse,  rifles  and  artillery.  The  officers 
took  pride  in  the  appearance  of  their  men,  and  the  men, 
instead  of  indulging  in  all  manner  of  antics,  were  dis- 
posed to  keep  their  toes  pointed  at  a  proper  angle,  and 
to  hold  their  guns  with  the  gravity  of  Macedonians. 
The  militia  was  respected,  and  men  of  reflection  beheld 
in  it  a  great  bulwark  to  defend  the  republic  against  the 
demonstrations  of  the  Five  Great  Powers,  and  other 
24 


266 


monarchical  phantoms  which  hovered  before  the  eyecr 
of  our  vigilant  forefathers.  The  plume,  the  epau- 
lette, the  sash,  were  badges  of  honor.  To  be  an  ofiScer 
in  the  militia  was  an  object  sought  for  by  respectable 
men.  The  captain  was  a  man  of  more  consequence 
than  he  would  have  been  without  the  right  to  command 
forty  of  his  neighbors  to  ground  arms,  and  to  keep  their 
eyes  right.  It  was  a  great  addition  to  the  importance 
of  a  leading  citizen  that  he  was  a  colonel,  and  enjoyed 
the  right  of  riding  upon  a  charger  at  the  head  of  half 
the  able-bodied  men  of  the  county ;  and  the  general 
galloping  with  his  staff  from  county  to  county,  dining 
with  the  oflScers  of  each  regiment,  and  saluted  by  the 
drums  and  rifles  of  five  thousand  republici^nn,  was  a 
Bernadotte,  a  Wellington  ;  and,  if  a  man  of  tact  and 
vigor,  carried  an  important  political  influence. 

The  social  constitution  of  this  domestic  army  was, 
of  course,  a  different  thing  from  that  of  the  armies  of 
the  European  Marshals.  Captains  went  to  logging 
bees  and  raisings  with  their  rank  and  file,  perhaps 
ground  their  corn,  possibly  shod  their  horses.  Colo>. 
nels  and  generals  drew  the  wills  of  their  legionaries,  or 
defended  them  in  actions  of  assault  and  battery  and 
ejectment  in  the  courts,  or  employed  them  on  their  arks^ 
or  bought  their  cattle.  They  were  dependent  upon  the 
men  they  commanded  for  elections  as  Sheriffe  or  Con- 
gressmen. The  inferior  officers  might  bo  hailed  by 
their  myrmidons  as  Tom  or  Harry,  and,  though  the 
high  commanders  were  generally  men  of  move  stately 
character,  who  were  not  to  be  treated  exactly  with  such 
familiarity,  yet  their  relations  with  the  soldiers  were 


26r 

not  those  of  Austriati  Princes  with  their  drilled  bobrs. 
When,  therefore,  one  of  these  high  field-o£Scers  went 
forth  to  war,  and  indiscreetly  put  on  the  majesty  of 
Marlborough,  or  affected  to  look  upon  his  men  as  the 
Duke  of  York  looked  upon  his,  he  soon  found  that  the 
social  laws  of  a  European  army  were  not  to  be  applied 
to  an  army  of  such  composition  without  modification. 
There  was  oocaLionally  one  of  these  magnificent  com- 
manders who,  after  the  war,  suflered  the  consequencee 
of  his  exaltation,  and  even  was  in  danger  of  being 
handsomely  thrashed  by  some  indignant  corporal,  who, 
at  home,  was  the  equal  of  his  commander,  but  found 
himself  treated  very  loftily  when  his  former  comrade 
commanded  a  corps  upon  the  line,  and  snu£fed  the  bat- 
tle afar  off. 

The  ofiicer  was  expected  to  deal  liberally  with  the 
infirmities  of  his  men,  and,  as  one  of  the  popular  infirm- 
ities in  those  times  was  a  singular  relish  for  stimulants, 
the  epidemic  was  treated  after  the  most  approved  prac- 
tice of  the  ancients.  The  colonel  often  knocked  in  the 
head  of  a  barrel  of  whiskey;  the  general,  sometimes 
after  review,  dashed  open  his  two  or  three  barrels  of 
the  same  delightful  fluid,  and  the  whole  legion  crowding 
around  quenched  their  thirsts  at  these  inspiring  foun- 
tains ;  majors,  captains  and  adjutants,  were  held  res- 
ponsible for  *^  small  drinks,"  that  the  fatigues  of  the 
day  might  be  endured  with  greater  patriotism.  There 
was,  according  to  the  best  information  we  obtain,  one 
regiment  in  the  county  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war. 
On  review  day  the  militia  from  all  parts  of  the  county 
met  at  ^  *th.  ;fO 


268 

Three  companies  of  Steuben  County  militia  irere 
ordered  out  for  three  months'  service  on  the  lines  in 
the  year  1812,  two  being  independent  companies  of 
riflemen,  and  liable,  as  such,  to  be  called  at  pleasure 
by  the  government,  and  the  third  being  a  company 
drafted  from  the  regiment.  Many  who  were  disposed 
to  volunteer,  had  been  carried  off  by  the  recruiting 
officers  of  the  regular  service.  Captain  James  Sand- 
ford  commanded  one  of  the  rifle  companies,  which  be- 
longed chiefly  to  the  town  of  Wayne,  and  the  other, 
which  mustered  about  50  men,  belonged  to  the  town  of 
Urbana,  and  was  commanded  by  Capt.  Abraham 
Brundage.  William  White,  of  Pulteney,  was  his  first 
lieutenant,  and  Stephen  Garner  his  ensign.  Two  rifle 
companies  from  Allegany  County  were  attached  to 
these,  and  the  battalion  thus  formed  was  commanded 
by  Major  Asa  Gaylord,  of  Urbana.  Major  Gaylord 
died  on  the  lines.  After  his  death,  the  battalion  was 
commanded  by  Col.  Dobbins.  The  drafted  company 
was  composed  of  every  eighth  man  of  the  regiment. 
Capt.  Jonas  Cleland  of  Conhocton,  commanded.  Sam- 
uel D.  Wells,  of  Conhocton,  and  John  Gillet  were 
lieutenants,  and  John  Kennedy,  ensign. 

These  companies  reached  the  frontiers  just  at  the 
time  when  Col.  Van  Rensselaer,  with  an  army  ©f 
militia,  was  about  to  make  an  attack  on  the  works  and 
forces  of  the  British  at  Queenstown  Heights.  Capt. 
Cleland,  with  many  of  his  men,  volunteered  to  crosa 
the  boundary. 

As  to  the  movements  of  the  Steuben  County  militia 
on  that  day,  there  are  discrepancies  in  the  accounts  of 


269 


the  actors.    We  give  the  story  of  the  ensign,  after- 
wards Major  Kennedy,  SheriflF  of  the  county,  a  relia- 
ble man,  and  brave  soldier,  and  obtained  from  him  as 
related  to  our  informant  many  years  ago. 
f     The  men  of  the  company,  boing  ranged  on  the  shore 
of  the  Niagara  river  at  the  foot  of  the  precipitous 
bank,  were  fired  upon  by  the  British  batteries  on  the 
opposite    side.      The    grape  shot    rattled    furiously 
against  the  rocks  overhead.    The  captain  advised  his 
men  to  seek  a  less  exposed  position,  and  disappeared 
with  some  of  his  soldiers.     He  appeared  again  on  the 
field  of  battle,  over  the  river,  in  the  course  of  the 
forenoon,  and  complaining  of  illness  returned  to  the 
American  side.     Lieutenant  Gillett  and  Kennedy  re- 
mained under  the  fire  of  the  British  batteries  with 
most  of  the  men,  crossed  the  river,  and  went  into  the 
battle.   The  former  was  well  known  through  the  county 
as  "  Chief  Justice  Giilect,"  an  eccentric  oratorical  man, 
.  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  sometime,  and  a  practitioner  in 
the  popular  courts.    Upon  him  devolved  the  command 
^-  of  the  company.     It  was  doubted  by  some  whether 
'^  this  Cicero  would  make  a  very  good  figure  upon  the 
^  battle  field,  and  whether  his  chivalrous  flourishes  and 
i  heroic  fury  would  not  suddenly  fail  him  at  the  scent 
^  of  gunpowder.   What  was  the  surprise  of  the  men  when 
'  the  "  Chief  Justice,"  as  soon  as  he  snuffed  the  British 
sulphur,  rushed  into  the  fight  as  if  he  had  just  found 
,.  his  element,  whirled  his  sword,  bellowed  savagely  with 
'.^  his  coarse,  powerful  voice,  urged  On  the  misn,  cheered 
X  and  dashed  at  the  BritohS  likie  a  lion.     The  soldiers 

were   astonished  to  find  themselves  led  by  Such  a 
2-i* 


270 

cheyalier.  Even  after  receiving  a  daogerous  and 
almost  mortal  wound,  he  faltered  not,  but  swung  bis 
hat,  brandished  his  sword,  and  continued  his  outlandish 
uproar  till  he  fell  from  pain  and  exhaustion.*  ^ 

£nsign  Kenned}',  after  the  fall  of  the  lieutenant, 
took  command  of  that  part  of  Capt.  Cleland's  company 
which  crossed  the  river,  and  of  a  few  others,  hastily 
formed  into  a  company.  At  one  time  they  were  op- 
posed to  the  Indians,  whom  they  drove  before  them 
into  a  wood.  While  exchanging  an  irregular  fire  with 
these  enemies  among  the  trees,  Benjamin  Welles,  a 
young  man  from  Butb,  who  stood  beside  Kennedy, 
looking  over  a  fence,  was  shot  through  the  head  and 
morially  wounded.  At  the  final  engagement  in  this 
random,  but  often  gallantly-fought  battle,  Kennedy, 
with  his  men,  were  ranged  in  the  line  formed  to  meet 
the  British  reinforcements,  which  were  just  coming  up. 


*  Old  soldiers  tell  of  a  militia  captain  from  a  neighboriog  county, 
trho  ^as  engaged  in  the  same  battle,  and  was  in  tome  respcctH  a 
match  for  the  fighting  Chief  Justice.  He  was  a  pnysician  by  pro- 
fession— a  dissenter  from  the  establishment,  howt^rer,  never  having 
taken  a  degree — and  accustomed  to  garnish  his  conv?" .nation  with  the 
most  sonorous  language.  In  batdc,  he  made  good  his  words,  and 
f  ;ght  bravely.  He  went  into  the  fight  in  full  uniform,  adorning 
himself  with  great  care,  and  from  this  circumstance  became  a  mark 
for  the  Indians,  who  supposed  that  such  a  blaze  of  finery  most  cover 
at  least  a  Major  OeneraL  He  was  last  seen  by  his  men  engaged  in 
single  combat  with  an  Indian,  slashing,  manfully  with  his  sword, 
while  the  savage  danced  around  him  with  a  hatchet,  watching  a 
chance  to  strike.  The  next  day  the  Indian  made  his  appearance  be- 
fore  the  prisoners,  clad  in  the  gorgeous  raiment  of  the  captain.  He 
strutted  to  and  fro  with  great  self-admiration,  and  was  not  entirely 
tore  that  be  had  not  slain  the  Flresident  of  the  United  States. 


*  1  O 


ik 


271 


and 
)g  his 
indish 

)'» 
enant, 

npany 
lastilj 
re  op- 
tbem 
re  with 
iUed,  a 
nnedy, 
Eld  and 
in  this 
nnedy, 
;o  meet 
ing  up. 

5  county, 
■espcctH  a 
n  by  pro- 
er  having 
[  with  the 
ords,  and 
adorning 
ie  a  mai'k 
last  cover 
ngaged  ia 
lis  sword, 
'atching  a 
Eirance  be- 
ttaio.  He 
>t  entirely 
tes. 


'*  Bill  Wadsworth,"  as  their  general,  was  known  to 
t)ie  militia,  (apon  whom  the  command  devolved  after 
the  fall  of  Van  Rensselaer,)  went  through  their  lines, 
in  a  rough-and-ready  style,  with  hat  and  coat  off,  ex- 
plaining to  the  inexperienced  officers  his  plan.  To 
avoid  the  fire  of  the  British  the  men  were  ordered  to 
retire  below  the  brow  of  the  hill  upon  which  they  were 
ranged,  and  up  which  the  enemy  would  march.  When 
the  British  appeared  on  the  top  of  the  hill  the  militia 
were  to  fire  from  below.  The  slaughter  would  be 
great ;  they  were  then  to  charge  bayonets,  and  in  the 
confusion  might  be  successful,  though  the  decisiveness 
of  a  charge  of  bayonets  up  a  hill  against  veterans,  by 
militia,  who  before  that  day  had  never  been  under  fire, 
might  well  have  been  doubted.  The  first  part  of  the 
plan  succeeded  famously.  As  the  British  appeared 
above  the  hill  a  fire  was  delivered  which  was  very  de- 
structive ;  but  a  misapprehension  of  the  word  of  com- 
mand by  part  of  the  line  caused  disorder.  The  fire 
was  returned  by  the  enemy.  The  militia  suffered  a 
considerable  loss,  and  fell  back  overpowered  to  the 
river,  where  the  most  of  them  were  made  prisoners. 
Of  the  Steuben  County  men  two  were  killed  and  three 
wounded. 

It  is  popularly  told,  that  on  this  day  Ensign  Ken- 
nedy was  engaged  in  personal  combat  with  a  British 
officer,  and  being  unacquainted  with  the  polite  learn- 
ing of  his  newly-adopted  profession,  was  speedily  dis- 
armed ;  that  he  immediately  closed  with  his  confound- 
ed antagonist,  knocked  him  down  with  his  fist,  and 
made  him  prisoner.     The  hero  of  the  story,  however. 


272 


is  said  to  have  denied  it.  He  was  present  at  other  en- 
gagements, and  gained  the  reputation  of  a  cool  and  re- 
4Solute  officer.  At  the  sortie  of  Fort  Erie  he  served 
vrith  distinction.  It  was  here  that,  under  a  close  and 
heavy  fire,  he  paced  to  and  fro  by  the  heads  of  his  men, 
who  had  been  ordered  to  lie  flat  on  the  ground  to 
avoid  the  balls — not  for  a  vain  exposure  of  his  person, 
but  "  being  an  oflScer,"  he  thougitt  "  it  wouldn't  do." 

In  the  second  year  of  the  war  two  companies  were 
drafted  from  the  Steuben  County  militia,  and  sent  to 
the  Niagara  frontier,  under  tlie  command  of  Captains 
James  Read,  of  Urbana,  and  Jonathan  Rowley,  of 
Dansville,  faithful  and  reliable  officers.  Capt.  Redd 
refused  to  go  as  a  drafted  officer,  but  reported  himself 
to  the  General  of  the  Division,  at  the  commencement 
of  the  war,  as  ready  to  march  at  the  head  of  a  com- 
pany, as  a  volunteer,  whenever  he  should  be  called 
upon.  Both  the  companies  were  principally  levied 
from  the  Northern  part  of  the  county.  Of  Capt.  Row- 
ley's company,  John  Short  and  John  E.  Mulholland 
were  lieutenants,  and  George  Knouse  and  Timothy 
Goodrich,  ensigns.  Of  Capt.  Read's  company,  George 
Teeples  and  Anthony  S war th out  were  lieutenants,  and 
Jabez  Hopkins  and  O.  Cook,  ensigns.  From  muster  to 
discharge  these  companies  served  about  four  months. 
All  of  the  officers  and  most  of  the  men  volunteered  to 
cross  the  boundaries  of  the  Republic,  and  were  station- 
ed at  Fort  George. 

We  have  not  succeeded  in  learning  anything  about 
the  draft  for   the  last  year  of  the  war,  if  any  was 


278 


made,  nor  concerning  the  militia  of  this  county  wha 
were  engnged  at  Fort  Erie. 

The  following  incident  is  related  by  one  of  the  Steu- 
ben County  militia  who  was  engaged  in  one  of  the  bat-- 
ties  on  the  line  as  sergeant  of  a  company.  His  com- 
pany was  ordered  into  action,  and  before  long  found  it- 
self confronted  by  a  rank  of  Old  Peninsulars,  arrayed 
in  all  the  terrors  of  scarlet  coats  and  cartridge  boxes.^ 
When  within  a  distance  of  ten  rods  from  their  enemies^ 
the  militia  halted,  and  were  ordered  to  fire.  Muskets 
came  instantly  to  the  shoulder  and  were  pointed  at  the^ 
Britons  with  the  deadly  aim  of  rifles  at  a  wolf  hunt^ 
but  to  the  dismay  of  the  soldiers  there  was  a  universal 
"  flash  in  the  pan  " — not  a  gun  went  off.  The  sergeant 
knew  in  an  instant  what  was  the  cause  of  the  failure. 
The  muskets  had  been  stacked  out  of  doors  during  the 
night,  and  a  little  shower  which  fell  toward  morning 
had  thoroughly  soaked  the  powder  in  them.  It  was  his 
business  to  have  seen  to  it,  that  the  muskets  were  cared 
for,  and  upon  him  afterwards  fell  the  blame  of  the  dis- 
aster. Nothing  could  be  done  till  the  charges  were 
drawn.  There  were  but  two  ball-screws  in  the  compa- 
ny. The  captain  took  one,  and  the  sergeant  the  other,, 
and  beginning  their  labors  in  the  middle  of  the  rank, 
worked  towards  the  ends.  A  more  uncomfortable  po- 
sition for  untried  militia  can  hardly  be  imagined.  The 
men,  as  described  by  the  sergeant,  *^  looked  strangely,, 
as  he  had  never  seen  them  before."  The  British 
brought  their  muskets  with  disagreeable  precision  into 
position  and  fired.  The  bullets  whistled  over  the  heads 
of  the  militia.     The  British  loaded  their  guns  again  t 


274 

tkgum  the  frightful  row  of  muzzles  looked  the  militia- 
men in  the  face — again  they  heard  the  alarming  com- 
mand, fircy  and  again  two  score  hullets  whistled  over 
their  heads.  A  third  time  the  British  brought  their 
muskets  to  the  ground  and  went  through  all  the  terri- 
l)le  ceremonies  of  biting  cartridges,  drawing  ramrods, 
and  priming  in  full  view  of  the  uneasy  militia.  The 
tnoistened  charges  were  by  this  time  almost  drawn,  and 
when  the  enemy  were  about  to  fire  the  sergeant  stood 
beside  the  last  man.  He  was  pale  and  excited.  *''  Be 
quick  sergeant — be  quick  for  God's  sake ! "  he  said. 
They  could  hear  the  British  ofiScer  saying  to  his  men, 
^*  You  fire  over  their  heads,"  and  instructing  them  to 
aim  lower.  The  muzzles  this  time  dropped  a  little  be- 
low the  former  range  ;  smoke  burst  forth  from  them, 
and  seven  militia-men  fell  dead  and  wounded.  The 
sergeant  had  just  finished  his  ill-timed  job,  and  was 
handing  the  musket  to  the  private  beside  him,  when  a 
bullet  struck  the  unfortunate  man  between  the  eyes  and 
killed  him.  The  fire  of  the  British  was  now  returned 
with  efifect.  Reinforcements  came  on  the  field  and  the 
engagement  became  hot.  An  officer  on  hordeback  was 
very  active  in  arranging  the  enemy's  line — riding  to 
-and  fro,  giving  loud  orders,  and  mnking  himself  ex- 
tremely useful.  "  Mark  that  fellow ! "  said  the  ser- 
geant to  his  right  hand  man.  Both  fired  at  the  same 
instant.  The  officer  fell  from  his  horse  and  was  car- 
ried off  the  field  by  his  men.  They  afterwards  learned 
that  he  was  a  Colonel,  and  that  one  of  his  legs  was 

broken. 

ti»S        -  9/iT     .Biiil  U> 


276 


THE   BATTLE  OF   DANSVILLE. 


io 


"  In  the  midwinter  of  1814,  the  bareheaded  express- 
rider,  galloping  through  the  frozen  forests,  brings  start- 
ling tidings.  The  British  Lion,  bounding  forth  from 
the  snow-drifts  of  Canada,  with  icicles  glittering  in  his 
mane,  has  pounced  upon  the  frontiers  of  the  Republic. 
Black  Rock  is  taken !  Buffalo  is  burned  !  General 
Hall's  militia  have  been  captured  and  generally  eaten* 
The  supervisors  of  Niagara  County  have  been  thrown 
into  the  grand  whirlpool.  The  floodgates  of  invasion 
have  been  opened,  and  the  whole  standing  army  of 
Great  Britain,  with  several  line-of-battle  ships,  and  an 
irregular  horde  of  Canadians  and  Esquimaux,  is  now 
rolling  Eastward  with  fire-brands  and  artillery,  break- 
ing furniture,  shattering  flour-barrels,  burning  cabins, 
blowing  up  mills,  and  terrifying  the  wives  and  children 
of  our  fellow-citizens. 

Since  Col.  Simcoe,  brandishing  his  two-edged  sword 
on  the  ramparts  of  Toronto,  beckoned  those  ^*black  war- 
elephants"  out  of  the  billows  of  Ontario,  there  had  not 
been  such  a  martial  ferment  in  our  county,  as  arose  at 
this  alarming  intelligence.  Before  the  horse  tail  of  the 
express-rider  vanished  beyond  the  Chimney  Narrows, 
the  murmur  of  war  arose  from  the  valleys  like  the 
humming  in  a  disturbed  bee-hive.  The  Brigadier  blew 
bis  gathering  horn,  and  all  the  cavaliers  and  yeomen^ 
in  the  uttermost  corners  of  the  county,  hurried  to  their 
regimental  mustering  grounds.  A  draft  was  ordered 
of  every  siecond  man. 
.  One  battaljon  mustered  on  the  Pnlteney  Square,  at 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
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276 


Bath.  The  snow  was  deep  and  the  wind  keen,  but  the 
fioldiers  stood  formed  in  a  half-moon,  with  the  fortitude 
of  Siberians.  Col.  Haight,  mounted  upon  a  black  char- 
ger, rode  up  with  great  circumstance,  and  made  a  vig- 
orous and  patriotic  speech,  calling  for  volunteers,  and 
exhorting  every  man  to  go  forth  to  the  battle.  If  half 
the  corps  volunteered,  a  draft  would  not  be  necessary. 
Nearly  the  requisite  number  offered  themselves  at  once. 
Then  the  deluding  drum  and  the  fanciful  fife  began  to 
utter  the  most  seducing  melodies.  The  musicians 
again  and  again  made  the  circuit  of  the  regiment,  as  if 
surrounding  the  backward  warriors  with  some  enchant- 
ment. Drummers  pounded  with  marvellous  energy, 
and  the  fifers  blew  into  their  squealing  tubes  with  such 
extraordinary  ardor,  that  if  the  safety  of  the  republic 
bad  depended  upon  the  active  circulation  of  wind 
through  those  '*  ear-piercing "  instruments,  all  appre- 
hensions of  danger  from  the  invaders  might  have  been 
instantly  dismissed.  Occasionally  a  militia-man  broke 
from  the  line  and  fell  in  behind  the  musicians ;  but  the 
most  of  the  legionaries  who  had  resisted  the  first  ap- 
peal, stood  in  the  snow,  proof  against  drums,  fifes,  and 
the  Colonel's  rhetoric.  The  draft  to  complete  the 
corps  was  finally  made,  and  the  battalion  started  for 
the  seat  of  war  in  high  spirits.  A  great  rabble  followed 
their  enlisted  comrades  to  Dansville  in  sleighs.  A  very 
uproarious  column  it  was.  At  Conhocton  the  army  en- 
camped. Houses,  barns,  pens  and  haystacks,  over- 
flowed with  fire-eaters.  *.  * 
In  the  meantime  the  Canisteo  country  had  been  wide 
awake.    Col.  James  McBurney,  hearing  the  Brigadier's 


277 


3         '' 


alarmitig  horn  sounding  its  |)brteBtod8  qtiavemsafiup^ 
moui^d  hts'snortiiig  Wiir^s«d^d,  a^d  gttfbelril%  «ogi»«ii^ 
his  boifatdrons  myrmidokd  f^om  ihe  St^iniUd  «lt(d  gb#^s, 
E^t  f drth  in  hot  Msm.*  At  I>cin««iU«^  th^  Wo- ^tHWUP 
ions  tiiet  and  VLnh&d.  Th&i?  diese^ik  <&otb  ^^^>f)»V<^^ 
of  Steuben  was  lik«  an  irrapttiotf  of  1^'  Gd^i  iof  -  did;' 
The  ohteftain  of  Claiiisfeo  bpentid  tho  baittte  Hft^t  ifiii^' 
anoidnt  fitbhlon^  hy  a  singjl^iookbat  in  «h«  |)»^efei«tt(^*d# 
the  combined  battalions^  A  broad-bteiEi;dt^tt^lSiaT¥^'i$f 
whiskey  stood  foirth  in  its  wooden  mail^mailNi^th^itfe)^ 
dni^e  by  hoops  of  seasoned  hickory.  Thil  giiin^fi^t*^^ 
undaunted  OstTDgoth  assaile^l  With  aiiiit^;  iJtidikii>tlk 
firit  bloTv^^-beat  <ipen his  h^ad;-'  Th^  MH$afianss«f«  tif 
a  howl  6f  trramphj  and)  crowding  arb^wl-,  dstaak  'lil^ 
the  Scandinavians  out  of  the  (ik^tU'Of  thei#  tsinl^^il^hW 
«nettiyk  fib  battle  thtobebattl«l^&r&k  <^i<i^^ind 
Ut^i^ooois  ir^0tl&ded  with  trem^i^^  ttj^oa^.  'IMiP 
l^le  WM  oaptt^dj-fifid'her  oitijK^iib  k^^W'n'd'^^ 
ihe wvaderfa  s«nk  ddwb^Troin  t^ha«ilie)eti,  to^kifl  thii 
they  had  just  fought  a  great  battle  on  the  Genesee 
Meadows,  in  which  the  British  fled  before  them,  scam- 
pered toward  Canada  like  a  multitude  of  rats,  ran  into 
the  Niagara,  and  were  now  sailing  around  in  the  great 
whirlpool— cannon  andfikJ^^iJiScers,  non-commission- 
ed officers,  musicians  and  privates — while  the  Prince 
Regent,  according  to  the  sentence  of  a  drum-head  Court 
Martial,  was  hanging  by  his  heels  from  an  oak  tree, 
and  the  lion  and  unicorn,  yoked  like  bullocks  to  the  tri- 


*  Ool  Wm.  Stephens,  of  Oanisteo,  was  hia  Major,  and  Ool.  J.  R. 
Stephens,  of  Homellsville,  Adjutant 

25  * 


278 


Dinphftl  oar  of  Colonel  Haight,  were  dragging  that  y1c« 
torioQS  oomml  around  the  Palteney  Square  of  Bath. 
.;jNeir8  arriyed  that  the  invaders  had  retired  into 
Canada.  The  drafted  hattalions  were  discharged  and 
returned  again  to  their  homes.  The  Canisteo  Alario 
coYered  the  retreat  in  a  masterly  manner,  and  saw  to 
it  that  none  of  the  3teahen  County  fire-eaters  who  had 
been  put  kors  du  combat  by  the  enemy  were  left  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  the  Dansvillains.  Certain  young 
men  who  were  entirely  captivated  by  the  free  and  to- 
ciferous  spirit  of  the  Canisteo  and  followed  the  Goths 
of  Col.  McBumey  to  their  own  valley,  relate  at  the 
present  day  with  langhteir  the  adventures  of  the  re- 
treat, and  talk  of  the  life  and  hospitalities  of  the  val- 
ley with  great  satiafaotion.  j  iv  jau  sui,  v  u.i.  uii^a  ou> 
J,  .The  muster,  the  maroh^  the  carouse,  and  the  retreat 
were  the  prominent  features  of  this  campaign,  of  which 
Timour  the  Tartar  might  be  proud.  It  was  known  to 
the  soldiery  afterwards  as  the  ^'  Battle  of  DansviUe.'' 

^y^i::ij.-,t.i -■     •  ■        '  "i(i    »*»^/'i^    *»   vtlijij'vl   .»<5»>'f,   hiii'i    y^i>iU 

*i^«^^  t^^M^  :"•  4t  d^^yi'i^^  td^  dplsiw  ni  ^wohtisM 

'^^M  M^  .(^M-Gi  I,  ;f  wiiJlf?ia  £  eaii  fititfljBD  hihwoi  hoiaq 
f^f)y:^^ydd  ^J  ..    .  .  j  :  '  mif  hm  iHt&'^m'A  ^di 

?^'  THB  KJI).' ;iB  n<>«afiOr-4oo(jf'iJxfv 

fi^.^  #  A^j^W^:^i^^  i'OioT  fiiioomu  baa  aoil  Qdi  ha& 


f  -*^^>  "(I     .  1S»   -^ 


, 'Jtj^.  •■-    **^-.*/'  t      p-^.-.-f- 


#'i' 
-* 


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■Ms     '.V-VAW; 


ifs,',:; 


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Ht^ift; 

IftC  ' 


ORGANIZATION  OF  STEUBEN  COUNTY. 


The  County  of  Steuben  was  detached  from  the  old  County  of 
Ontario  and  constituted  a  separate  County  in  the  year  1796. 
At  the  time  of  its  organisation  it  was  divided  into  six  towns,  vie : 
Bath,  Canisteo,  DansviUe,  Fredericton,  Middletown  and  Paint- 
ed Post.  Since  the  organization,  one  tier  of  towns  has  been  ta- 
kCQ  from  the  western  side  of  the  County  and  attached  to  Alle- 
{!any  County,  the  territory  constituting  the  present  town  of  Bar- 
I^ngton  and  Staricey  with  part  of  the  town  of  Jerusalem  has  bee» 
iaken  from  the  northern  towns  and  annexed  to  Yates  County, 
and  one  quarter  of  a  Township,  including  the  village  of  Dans- 
viUe, has  been  given  to  Livingston. 


- 


^K'l.r:: 


■im 


«» 


COUNTY  JUPGES. 


Wniiam  Kers^,  appointed  1796 
James  Faulkner,  **  1804 
Samuel  Baker,  **        1814 

Thomas  McBurney, '  '*  1816 
James  Norton,  "        1823 


Jacob  Larrowe,  elected  1851. 


Oeo.  G.  EdwarAs,  appointed  182ft 
Ziba  A.  Leland,  1888 

Jacob  Larrowe,  1848 

William  M.  Hawley,  1846 

David  McMaster,  efeptei  .  1847 


i^n 


u^> 


tkMTge  D.  Cooper, 
Henry  A.  Townsend, 
John  Wilson, 
Edward  Howell, 
John  Metcalfe, 


COtJNTY  CLERKS 

1796 
1799 
1815 


1818 


David  Rumsey, 
William  H.  Bull, 
William  Hamilton, 
Paul  C.  Cook> 


lt-*fc?;>. 


1821    PhUo  P.  Hubbell, 


T8sr 


,lieri 


BHERIfFB. 

WaUam  Dunn,  appoiateA  1T90  I  Joha  Magee, 
leka  Wilfloa,  <<    -  MOO  J  Jeka  Kenae^y, 


elected 


.81 


# 


2^0 


0agaM  Cameron,       " 

1806 

AWah  Ellaa, 

«« 

1828 

Jaoob  Teeple,              " 

1809 

George  Huntington, 

<« 

1881 

Howell  Bull,              " 

1811 

John  T.  Andrews, 

It 

1884 

iThomas  MoBarney,    " 

1812 

Henry  Brother, 

•( 

1887 

Lazarus  Hammona^    ** 

1814 

Hiram  Potter, 

<* 

1840 

George  McClure,        " 

1816 

Hugh  Magee, 

(« 

1848 

Henry  Shriyer,           " 

1819 

Heiiry  Brother, 

(t 

1846 

John  Magee,               " 

1821 

Oliver  Allen, 

i< 

1849 

Gabriel  T.  Harrower,  elected  1852. 

-•iiTeO  hh  - 

7J  M 

a") 

J^trr 

... 

■  r«j Jij(?ni»  'ti 

nu 

u»ua!»<~* 

SUftROGATES. 

.-it 

,-.  .  ; 

dtephen  Rosa,  appointed  1796 

Henry  A.  Townsend,  "  1800 

George  McGlure,        *'  1806 

John  Metcalfe,  **  1813 

James  Brundage,       " 


Jacob  Larrowe.  elected  1861. 


William  Woods,  appointed  1827 
Robert  Campbell,  jr.  "  1886 
David  Rumsey.jr.  "  1840 
Ansel  J.  McCall,  ••  1844 
David  McMaster,  elected    184? 


KM! 


Ui, 


POPULATION  OF  STEUBEN  COUNTY. 


I'opulAtion  in 


1790  168 

1800         1,788 
1810         7,246 
Population  in 


Population  in 


1860  62,969. 


1820 
1880 
1840 


21,989 
83,976 
46,188 


K)PULATION  ACCORDING  TO  THE  CENSUS  OF  1850. 


Bath, 
Reading, 
I'yrone, 
Frattobnrgb, 


Bradford, 

Catoa, 

Campbell, 

Cameron, 

Snrin, 

Hornbjf 


FIRST  ASSEMBLY  DISTRICT. 
6185 

1435 
1894 


2786 


Pulteney, 

Wheeler,  ^   ^ 

Urbana,       ■n^^^'i^'y  M  »; 

Wayne,    '^^^^^'"'^  ^  ^-  " 


SECONd  AS8KMBLT  DITRICT. 


.%%•■ 


2010 
1215 
1175 
1663 
1477 
1314 


Lindley, 

Orange, 

Painted  Poft, 

Addison, 

Woodholl,    au  ,«i:«'ir  ru 


1815 
1471 
2079 
13S0 

axifi* 
686 
1887 
4411 
3723 
1769 
726 


281 


1828 
1881 
1884 
1887 
1840 
1848 
1846 
1849 

rr 


1  1827 
1885 
1840 
1844 
1847 

a 

.-'■'■'.'if 


21,989 
13,976 
6,188 


850. 


1815 
1471 
2079 
1350 


686 
1887 
1411 
3723 
1769 

726 


THIBD  AMBMBLT  DISTRICT. 


:u- 


ConhooUm, 

DansTille, 

Howard, 

HornellBville, 

Hartsyille. 


1574 
2006 
2545 
3144 
2637 
854 


Troupsban^h, 
Greenwood, 
West  Union, 
Janper,   , 
Canisteo, 
Wayland, 


1656 
1186 
950 
1749 
2030 
2067 


VOTES  POLLED  AT  THE  GENERAL  ELECTION  IN  1852. 

5236 


For 
Fbanklin  Pierce, 


For 
6880  I  WiNFiKLD  Scott, 


m'i  i^^^'. 


AGRICULTURAL  PRODUCTIONS,  &o. 


A«r«84)f  Land  improved , , , 886,981 

"  "     unimproved 838,416 

Cash  value  of  farms. $18,581,268 

Value  of  iarming  implements  and  machinery. $     676>792 


LIVE  STOCK. 


9b^ 


Horses i:>  ;  .4 

Asses  and  mules 4 

Miloh  cows 21,584 

Working  oxen .6,744 

Other  cattle 27,162 

Sheep. 156,776 

Swine 28,980 

Value  of  Uve  stock •  •  •  • $  2,165,09Q 

PRODUCE  DURIMQ  YEAR  XNDIKO  JUNE  1,    1850. 

Wheat,  bushels  of , ,  .668,484 

Rye,  "      " 16,088 

Indian  corn,      " 297,717 

Oats      -   "      " 918,948 

Wool,  pounds  of 899,548 

Peas  and  beans,  bushels  of ..45,202 

Irish  pototoes,  bushels  of.. 860,725 

Sweet  potatoes,    "       " 246 

Barley  «       " ....168,056 

9uQ)Lwheat.         «      "...«<•,......... ..«....,«.. 115,890 


2K 

Yftlue  of  orchard  prodaota » «.».». $    80.64I5 

Wine,  gallons  of. 285 

Vahie  of  produce  of  market  gardeni $     1,746 

Butter,  pounds  of. 1,Q18,MA 

Cheese,  pounds  of 210,889 

llajitonsof 111,880 

Ulorer  seed,  bushels  of. 1,886 

^her  srass  seeds 4,4^0 

Aops,  lbs.  of. 424 

Flax,  lbs  of 16,241 

Flax  seed,  bushels  of 1,276 

Silk  cocoons,  lbs.  of. 2 

Maple  sugar,  lbs.  of 294,897 

Molasses,  gallons  of. 3,547 

Beeswax  and  honey,  lbs.  of 94,991 

Value  of  home-made  manufactures. $  76,287 

Yaluo  of  animals  slaughtered «... §296,708 


SKETCH  OF  THE  GENERAL  HISTORT    OF   SETTLEMENT 
V  .      IN  VV£STERN  NEW-YORK. 

The  first  European  visitants  of  Western;  New  York  were  the 
French.  During  the  first  thirty  years  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury tie  English  made  their  earliest  settlements  in  New  Eng-. 
land  and  Virginia,  the  Dutch  on  the  Hudson  river,  and  the 
French  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  One  hundred  and  fifty  yean 
afterwards  the  English  were  lords  of  the  Continent.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  race,  however,  the  French  di^played  a  voce 
daring  genius  for  adventure  and  conquest  tban^their  competitorsi 
While  the  English  Colonists  were  yet  doubtfully  struggling  for 
existence  on  the  Atlantic  shores,  and  the  Hollanders,  with 
bearer-like  prudence  strengthened  their  habitations  at  Fort 
Orange  and  New  Amsterdam,  French  adventurers  bad  ascended 
the  Great  Lakes,  and  before  the  end  <^  the  seventeenth  century^ 
orossed  ihenoe  to  the  Mississippi,  decoended  that  river  to  its 
month,  and  established  trading  posts  and  iniBsionfl  half  way 
aeroM  the  continent.* .  .   .    . 

*Date  of  Cartiers  Voyage  to  Hocbalaga  (Montreal,)         1684 

"•     •' ^taementatQuebeOf  ^  »v.         leog 

-  **     *«  "  "  Plynonth,  i'**?»^-  1621 

*»     "         •*  «  New  Y^MPk*  .m>t>tmwi  16W 

..         «  a  j^MwUtwih  low 

"  Marquette's  Voyage  down  the  Mississippi,  167>t 

•'  Lfa  daUe'a  Western  Sxplorationa.  ^'^^V  1682 


4* 
'4C 


Daring  tht  fink  Mntary  of  French  dominion  In  Canada,  thaly 
ralations  with  the  fierce  proprietore  of  Weetem  New  Yorlc  were 
not  peaceful.    Chaoplain,  the  founder  of  Quebec,  soon  after 
his  adrent  to  Canada,  gave  mortal  offence  to  the  Five  Nations, 
by  assisting  their  enemies,  the  Hurons  and  Alffonqnins  in  a 
battle  near  Tioonderoga,  whore  the  fire-arms  of  the  Europeans 
gained  for  their  oonfederates  victory  oyer  the  Iroquois.    From 
that  time  down  to  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the 
implacable  enmity  of  the  red  leaguers  harrasscd  the  colonists  of 
Canada.    The  expeditions  of  the  French  Governors  into  the 
territory  of  their  foes  ^^^inod  for  them  little  beside  disgrace. 
From  about  the  year  1700,  however,  the  influence  of  the  Jesuit 
missionaries,  nnd  the  prudence  of  the  Governors  preserved  peace 
between  the  former  beligercnts,  and  neutrality  on  the  part  of 
the  savages  in  the  contests  of  France  and  Great  Britnin.     When 
the  great  rivals  joined  in  the  final  struggle  of  1754,  the  four 
Western  tribes  of  the  Six  Nations^  even  took  up  the  hatchet  for 
the  French.      Ten  years  later  the  English  were  supreme  in 
North  America. 

In  1771  the  county  of  Albany  embraced  all  the  northern  and 
western  pare  of  the  province  of  New  York,  and  extended  from 
the  I^udson  river  to  the  Niagara.  In  1772  the  county  of  Tryon 
was  formed.  It  embraced  all  that  part  of  tho  state  lying  west 
of  a  North  and  South  line  running  nearly  through  the  centre 
of  the  present  county  of  Schoharie.  It  was  named  in  honor  of 
Sir  William  Tryon,  the  provincial  governor.  The  boundary 
between  the  British  and  Indian  territory  as  agreed  upon  in  the 
treaty  of  1768,  ran  from  Fort  Stanwix,  near  Oneida  Creeks 
Southward^o  the  Susquehanna  and  Delaware. 

The  settlement  of  this  district  was  commenced  early  in  the 
18th  century,  when  nearly  three  thousand  German  Palatinates 
emigrated  to  this  country  under  the  pationage  of  Queen  Anne. 
Most  of  them  settled  in  Pennsylvania ;  a  few  made  their  way 
in  1773  from  Albany  over  the  Helderberg  to  the  bottoin  lands 
of  Schoharie  cr  ^k  and  there  effected  a  settlement.  Small 
colonies  from  here  and  from.  Albany  established  thebnselves  in 
various  places  along  the  Mohawk,  and  in  1772  had  extended 
as  far  up  as  the  German  Flats,  near  where  stands  the  village  of 
Herkimer. 

In  1739,  Mr.  John  Lindsay,  a  Scotch  gentleman,  fonnded  the 
petilement  at  Cherry  Valley,  which  in  »  few  years  became  thf 


3(  *1!he  Tns^arpras  joined  the  Five  Nations  in  1719^. 


■4  •^'JilS'ifi^'5'n. 


komtfoT*  ndsl  worlfiy  ind  intelligent  community,  moptlyof 
Sootoh  and  **8«oteb>lri8h"  origin. 

The  gftllunt  family  of  Harpers  fettled  at  Harperefield  4n  1768, 
and  about  tbf  eame  time  settlements  were  planted  near  Una* 
dilla,  and  soattered  familifa  took  up  their  residence  in  other 
districts.  I'he  population  of  Cherry  Vullcy  was  shurt  of  three 
hundred,  and  that  of  all  Tryon  county  not  far  from  ten  thou* 
sand  inhabitants  when  the  Revolution  opened. 

For  twenty  years  previous  to  the  Hevolutionarv  war,  Sir 
William  Johnson  lived  at  Johnstown,  the  cnpital  of  Tryon 
county,  by  far  the  roost  notable  man  bearing  a  iiritiah  commis- 
sion in  the  American  provinces.  Knii^iating  from  Ireland  in 
the  year  1737,  as  agent  for  the  Mohawk  estate  of  his  uncle, 
Sir  Peter  Warren,  he  early  obtained  diBtinguishod  reputation 
and  influence— rose  to  high  military  command,  and  in  the  last 
French  war,  by  his  victory  over  Baron  Dieekau,  at  Lake  George, 
and  his  successful  seige  of  Fort  Niagara,  gained  fame,  fortune, 
and  a  Baronetcy.  From  that  time  till  near  the  rupture  between 
the  Crown  and  the  Colonics,  he  lived  at  Jolmuon  iiall,  near 
Johnstown,  Superintendent  of  Indian  affairs  fur  the  Northern 
provinces,  witn  princely  wealth  and  power,  dituplaying  an 
administrative  genius  superior  to  any  which  had  buture  been  at 
the  service  of  the* British  government  in  America.  In  the 
year  1774,  an  Indian  Councilwas  held  at  Johnstown,  at  which 
wore  present  a  large  number  of  the  warriors  of  the  Six  Nations, 
besides  many  high  civil  dignitaries  of  the  provinces  of  New 
York  and  New  Jersey.  In  the  niidntof  the  council  Sir  William 
suddenly  died.  On  the  l3th  of  July  he  was  borne  from  the 
Hall  to  his  grave,  followed  by  a  great  concourse  of  citizens  and 
Indians,  and  lamented  by  all. 

At  the  time  of  his  decease,  his  department  included  130,000 
Indians,  of  whom  25,420  were  fighting  men.  Tiie  Six  Nations 
numbered  about  10,000,  and  had  two  thousand  bold  and  skillful 
warriors.  Colonel  Guy* Johnson,  son-in-law  of  the  late  Supcrin* 
tendent,  succeeded  Sir  William  in  this  important  post. 

In  a  few  months  the  long  gathering  political  agitationi  of  the 
Eastern  provinces  broke  out  into  open  ond  determined  rebellion. 
The  patriots  of  Tryon  county  hailed  with  enthusiasm  the  tidinn 
from  Boston,  and  met  to  express  sympathy  with  their  friends  fa 
New  England,  and  to  organize  for  similar  measures.  Guy 
Johnson  became  the  leader  of  the  loyalists.  Sharp  dlseasmoot 
and  oorreepondence  between  him  and  the  revolutionary  oom- 
roittee  followed,  and  in  a  few  months  Colonel  Johnson  abandoned 
bis  reaidenoe  at  Guy  Parki  uid  attended  by  a  formidable  body 


■*.^ 


of  Indian  tnd  Tory  adherent*,  among  wbom  Wera  Col.  Claai, 
the  ButlirH  Hnd  Brant,  made  hia  l.o<id  qaartere  at  Foict  Stanwix, 
afterwards  ut  OnwpgOj  and  finally  at  ivfontreal.     To  the  latter 

Klace  iiv  Join  JoIiDHor,  the  son  and  heir  of  Sir  William,  followed 
im  with  a  body  of  three  hundred  loyali»ti,  chiefly  Sootob. 
Then  followed  the  bloody  border  wan  of  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania.  The  British  Government  having  determined  to 
ooromit  the  dtistnrdly  and  disj^usting  wickedness  of  setting  ten 
thousand  savages  upon  tl> )  scattered  frontier  settlements  of  the 
United  Colonies,  found  in  the  Johnsons  and  Butlers  fit  dispensers 
of  mnsHiiore  to  tho  Northern  borders.  A  brief  notice  of  the  in- 
cursions into  VVostern  New  York,  must  suflBce  in  this  place. 

It  was  not  till  the  campaign  of  1777  that  the  citizens  of  Try- 
on  county  felt  the  power  which  had  been  enlisted  against  them. 
Rumors  of  suvago  invasion  it  is  true  had  alarmed  them,  and  a  re- 
ported concentration  of  Indians  at  Oquago  (now  Windsor)  on 
the  iSut'quuliunna,  excited  at  one  time  muoii  apprehension.  In 
July  of  that  year  Gen.  Herkimer,  of  the  Tryon  county  militia, 
marched  to  Unadilla  with  300  men,  and  there  held  an  interview 
with  Brant,  tlio  celebrated  war-chief,  who  also  appeared  with  a 
force  of  warriors.  Tho  Indians  manifested  a  duoided  leaning 
toward  tho  iCnglish,  and  the  conference,  after  nearly  becoming 
a  deadly  afiray,  terminated. 

•  In  a  lew  days  afterwards  it  became  necessary  for  the  General 
to  issue  a  proclamation,  announcing  impending  invasion.  Bur- 
goyne  with  his  well  appointed  army  of  7,500  regular  troops  be« 
side  Canadian  and  Indian  auxilaries,  had  reached  Ticonderoga 
on  his  march  from  Montreal  toward  N.  York,  and  Gen.  St.  Leger 
with  about  2000  soldiers  and  savages  began  his  march  from 
Oswego,  with  orders  to  take  Fort  Schuyler,  and  pass  down  the 
Mohawk  to  Johnstown,  and  to  fortify  himself  there.  On  the  3d 
of  August  ho  arrived  before  Fort  Schuyler,  and  found  the  garri- 
son under  Col.  Gunsevoort,  prepared  for  a  determined  resistance. 
Gen.  Herkimer  with  800  militia  marched  to  reinforce  the  garri- 
son. Apprised  of  this,  St.  Leger  detached  a  body  of  soldiers  and 
Tories  under  Brant,  and  Col.  Butler  to  watoh  bis  approach,  and 
if  possible  to  intercept  his  maroh.  A  desperate  hand-to-band 
battle  was  fought  on  the  6th  of  August  in  the  woods  at  Oriska* 
ny,  a  few  miles  from  the  Fort.  Tho  militia  were  surprised,  and 
suffered  severely  for  their  negligence.  The  rear  division  of  the 
column  gave  way  at  the  first  attack,  and  fled.  The  forward  di- 
tision  had  no  alternative  but  to  fight.  '^Facing  out  in  every  di- 
rection  they  sought  shelter  under  tho  trees,  and  returned  the 
fire  of  the  enemy  with  spirit.    In  ibe  beginning  of  the  b&iUei 


986 


the  Indiani,  whentver  they  i^w  that  a  gun  waa  fired  from  be* 
hind  a  tree,  mahed  up  and  tomahawkM  the  periiMi  thus  firing 
before  he  hnd  time  to  reload  his  gnn.  To  oonnteract  this,  two 
men  were  ordered  to  station  themvelvea  beliind  one  tree,  the  one 
reserving  \M  fire  till  the  Indian  ran  up.  In  this  way  the  In- 
dians were  made  to  suffer  severely  in  return.  The  fighting  had 
continued  for  some  time,  and  the  Indians  had  begun  to  give 
way,  when  Major  Watts,  a  brother-in-hiw  of  Sir  John  Johnton, 
brought  up  a  reinforcement  consisting  of  a  detachment  of  John- 
son's Greens.  The  blood  of  the  Germans  boiled  with  indigna- 
tion at  the  sight  of  these  meu.  Many  of  the  Greens  were  per- 
sonally known  to  them.  They  had  fled  their  country  and  were 
now  returned  in  arms  to  subdue  it.  Their  presence  under  any 
circumstances  would  have  kindled  up  tho  resentment  of  these 
militia,  but  coming  up  as  they  now  did  in  aid  of  a  retreating 
foe,  called  into  exercise  the  most  bitter  feelings  of  hostility. — 
They  fired  on  them  as  they  advanced,  and  then  rushing  from 
behind  their  covers  attacked  them  with  their  bayonets,  and 
those  who  had  none,  with  the  butt  end  of  their  muskets.  This 
contest  was  maintained  band  to  hand  for  nearly  half  an  hour. — 
The  Greens  made  a  manful  resistance,  but  were  finally  obliged 
to  give  way  before  the  dreadful  fury  of  their  assailants,  with  the 
loss  of  thirty  killed  upon  the  spot  where  they  first  entered. "-(Jn- 
nals  of  Tryon  County.) 

The  Americans  lost  in  killed  nearly  200,  and  about  as  many 
wouadod  and  prisoners.  The  Indians  according  to  their  own 
statement  lost  100  warriors  killed;  and  the  tories  and  regulars 
about  the  same  number.  Gen.  Herkimer  was  wounded,  and  a 
few  days  after  vbe  battle  died.  During  the  battle  an  efficient 
sally  was  made  from  the  Fort  by  Col.  Willet.  On  tl^e  22d  of 
August,  St.  Leger,  alarmed  at  the  rumored  approach  of  Arnoldi 
abandoned  the  seige,  and  retired  in  great  confusion,  leaving  be- 
hind a  great  part  of  his  baggage. 

In  the  summer  of  1778,  Brant  made  his  head-quarters  at 
Oquago  and  Unadilla,  and  there  mustered  a  band  of  Indians  and 
Tories,  ready  for  any  barbarity  which  might  off^r.  The  inhabi- 
tants of  Cherry  Valley  threw  up  rude  fortifications,  of  the  need 
of  which  the  hovering  parties  of  enemies  gave  warning.  Sev- 
eral attacks  and  skirmishes  occurred  along  the  frontiers.  In 
July  of  this  year,  Col.  John  Butler  made  the  celebrated  inonr- 
sion  into  Wyoming.  After  ravaging  that  ill-fated  valley,  Col. 
Butler  returned  to  Niagara,  but  the  Indians  again  took  their 
station  at  Oquago.  In  the  month  of  November,  Capt.  Walter 
Botler,  a  8on;of  the  ^vastator  of  Wyoming,  to  gratify  a  person- 
al resentment,  obtained  from  bis  father  a  detachment  of  200 


287 


^P^ 


'*  Butler  Rangers,"  and  permiMioti  to  employ  the  500  Indiani 
which  Brant  commanded  atOqaago.  Under  circomstancei  which 
proted  the  Tory  commander  to  he  the  moet  pitilew  barbarian  of 
the  troop,  their  united  forcea  assailed  the  little  settlement  of 
Cherry  Valley,  on  the  morning  of  the  11th  November.    Through 
the  inexcasable  neglect  of  the  officer  in  command  of  the  Fort, 
the  farmers  were  surprised  in  their  houses,  with  several  offieera 
from  the  Fort,  who  were  their  lodgers.    The  commander  of  the 
post,  refusing  to  yield  himself  a  prisoner,  fell  by  the  tomakawk. 
A  piteous  scene  of  massacre  and  devastation   followed.    The 
Senecas,  the  most  untameable  ol  the  savages,  with  some  tories, 
were  first  in  the  Fray,  and  slew  without  meroy  or  discrimina> 
tion.     Brant  and  his  Mohawks,  less  inhuman  here  than  their 
barbarous  or  renegade  allies,  plied  their  hatchets  with  less  fury.' 
The  buildings  and  stacks  of  hay  and  grain  were  Sred.    The 
troops  in  the  Fort  repelled  the  attack  ot  the  enemy,  but  were 
not  strong  enough  to  sally  from  their  intrenchments.    At  night 
the  Indians  had  begun  their  march  homeward,  with  about  forty 
prisoners.    On  the  following  day  a  detachment  of  militia  arrir- 
ed  from  the  Mohawk,  and  the  last  prowling  parties  of  Indians 
disappeared.    The  Annalist  of  Tryon  County  says,  "  The  most 
wanton  acts  of  cruelty  had  been  committed,  but  the  detail  is  too 
horrible  and  I  will  not  pursue  it  further.    The  whole  settlement 
exhibrted  an  aspect  or  entire  and  complete  desolation.     7%e' 
cocks  crew  from  the  tops  of  the  forest  trees^  and  the  dogs  howled 
through  the  fields  and  woods.     The  inhabitants  who  escaped 
with  the  prisoners  who  were  set  at  liberty,  abandoned  the  set* 
tlement."* 

*'In  the  summer  of  1781,  Col.  Willctt  met  and  defeated  Major 
Ross  and  Walter  Butler,  at  Johnson  Hall.  In  the  rapid  retreat 
which  followed,  Capt.  Butler  was  pursued  by  a  small  party  of 
Oneida  ludians  who  adbercfl,  alone  of  the  Six  Nations,  to  the 
American  side.  Swiming  his  horse  across  the  West  Canada  Creek, 
he  turned  and  defied  bis  pursuers.  "  An  Oneida  immediately  die- 
ehargod  his  rifle  and  wounded  him  and  he  fell.  Thowing  down 
his  rifle  and  his  blanket,  the  Indian  plunged  into  the  creek  and 
awam  across.  As  soon  as  he  had  earned  the  opposite  bank,  he 
raised  his  tomahawk,  and  with  a  yell,  sprang  like  a  tiger  upon  hia 
fallen  foe.  Butler  supplicated,  though  in  vain  for  mercy.  The 
Oneida  with  his  uplifted  axe,  shouted  m  broken  English,  "  Sherry 
Valley!  remember  Sherry  Valley!"  and  then  buried  it  in  his 
brains.  He  tore  the  scalp  from  the  head  of  his  victim,  still  QuIt* 
enna;  in  the  agonies  of  death,  and  ere  the  remainder  of  the  Onei* 
daa  had  joined  him,  the  spirit  of  Walter  Butler  had  gone  ta  ^ve 
wb  its  aeeennt.  The  place  where  he  oroesed  is  called  Butler* 
;  ^ord  to  this  day."— (wliina/«  of  Tr^on  County,) 


"■-iV- 


♦ 


288 


Dariog  th«  aaine  year  McDonald,  a  torj,  with  300  Indians 
and  toriee  wat  ravaging  the  Datoh  Mttlements  of  Scliobaria.— - 
"  What  shall  b«  done  ?''  said  Col.  Harper,  the  bold  partisan,  to 
Col.  Vroeman,  the  commander  of  the  Fort,  while  the  enemy 
were  scouring  tho  country  around.  ^'0,  nothing  at  all,"  the 
officer  replied,  ^'  we  be  so  weak  we  cannot  do  anything."  Col. 
Harper  ordered  bis  horse  and  laid  his  course  for  Albany — rode 
right  down  through  the  enemy  who  were  scattered  over  all  the 
country.  At  Fox'S  Creek  he  put  up  at  a  tory  tavern  for  the  night. 
He  retired  to  bed  after  having  looked  the  door.  Soon  there 
was  a  loud  rapping  at  the  door  ?  "  Wbat  is  wanted  ?"  ^|  We 
want  to  see  Col.  Harper."  The  Col.  arose  and  unlockea  the 
door,  seated  himself  on  the  bed,  and  laid  his  sword  and  pistols 
before  him.  In  stepped  four  men.  "  Step  one  inch  over  that 
mark,"  said  the  Colonel,  "  and  you  are  dead  men."  After  talk- 
ing a  little  time  with  him  they  left  the  room.  He  again  secur- 
ed the  door,  and  sat  on  his  bed  till  daylight  appeared.  He  then 
ordered  his  horse,  mounted  and  rode  for  Albany,  and  the  enemy 
were  round  the  house.  An  Indian  followed  him  almost  into  Al« 
bany,  taking  to  his  heels  when  the  Colonel  wheeled  and  pre* 
sented  his  pistol.  Next  morning  the  Schoharie  people  heard  a 
tremendous  shrieking  and  yelling,  and  looking  out,  saw  the  en- 
terprising partisan  amongst  the  enemy  with  a  troop  of  horse. — 
'The  men  in  the  Fort  rushed  out,  and  the  country  was  soon 
cleared  of  the  whole  crew  of  marauders. 

The  narrow  limits  allowed  to  this  portion  of  the  volume,  warn 
that  no  further  space  can  be  occupied  with  a  detail  of  the  inci- 
dents of  the  Border  Wars  of  New  York.  In  1779,  Gen,  Sullio 
rap  made  his  well  known  e^icpedition  mto  the  territory  of  the 
Indians.  During  the  remaining  years  of  tho  war  the  frontiers 
were  sorely  harrassed.  Bands  of  savages  and  loyalists  incessan- 
tly emerged  from  the  forests  to  ravage,  burn  and  kill.  And  if 
they  tucoeeded  in  bringing  dreadful  misery  upon  the  homes  of 
the  borderers,  it  was  not  without  resolute  resistiince  on  the  part 
of  the  latter.  Under  the  lead  of  VViliett,  the  Harpers  and  other 
partisans  not  less  sagacious  than  determined,  the  marauders  of- 
ten felt  to  their  discomfiture  the  rifles  of  the  frontiers ;  and  the 
well  authenUoated  traditions  of  individual  daring  and  adven- 
ture, rival  in  interest  the  annals  of  knight-i>rrantry. 

Spqn  lifter  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  emigration  be-r 
gM  to  pepetrftte  Western  New  York  from  three  c^narters.  Penn- 
eylvaoiiins.  particularly  inhabitants  of  the  region  of  Wyom- 
ing, pushed  up  the  Susquehanna  to  Tioga  Point,  where,  diverg- 
ing, wmie  naae  settlements  along  the  Chemung  and  Caniiteob 


'"*■-.. 


280 


.^- 


while  others  eeteblisfaed  themselTee  oa  the  Eait  branch  of  the 
Sasqaehanna  and  its  tributaries.  Adventurers  from  the  East, 
orossing  irom  New  England  or  the  Hudson  river  counties  to 
Unadilla,  dropped  down  the  river  in  eanoes  and  settled  along 
the  Susquehanna  or  Chemung,  or  travelled  into  the  upper  Ge- 
nesee country.  Yet  another  band  took  the  ancient  road  through 
the  Mohawk  valley  to  Oneida  Lake,  then  on  to  Canadesaga. 

In  May,  1784,  Hugh  White  passing  the  boundary  of  civiliza* 
tion  settled  at  Whitestown,  near  Utict^.  In  the  same  year  James 
Dean  settled  at  Rome.  In  1786,  a  Mr.  Webster,  became  the 
first  white  settler  of  the  territory  now  comprised  in  the  county 
of  Onondaga.  In  1788,  Asa  Danforth  and  Comfort  Tyler,  loca- 
ted at  Onondaga  Hollow.  In  1793,  John  L.  Hardenburgh  set- 
tled on  the  site  of  the  city  of  Auburn.  In  1789,  James  Bennett 
and  John  Harris  estdblished  a  ferry  at  Cayuga  Lake.  In  1787, 
Jemima  Wilkinson's  disciples  made  their  first  settlement  on  the 
outlet  ot  Crooked  Lake,  one  mile  South  of  the  present  village  of 
Dresden.  On  their  arrival  at  Geneva  from  the  East  they  found, 
says  a  local  historian,  but  a  solitary  log  house,  and  that  not  fin- 
ished, inhabited  by  one  Jennings. 

After  the  purchase  of  Phelps  and  Gorham,  of  their  Western 
estate,  Mr.  Fhelps  selected  the  site  at  the  foot  of  Canandaigna 
Lake  as  the  central  locality  in  his  purchase,  and  the  village  of 
Canandaigua  received  its  first  settler  in  the  spring  of  1789.  Ma- 
ny others  followed  during  the  same  season,  and  in  the  Augurt 
ensuing  the  new  village  was  described  as  being  *^  full  of  people 
residents,  surveyors,  explorers,  adventurers.  Houses  were  gomg 
up— it  was  a  busy,  thriving  place." 

In  the  fall  of  1788,  Kanadesaga  (now  Geneva,)  is  described 
as  having  become  '*  a  pretty  brisk  place,  the  focus  of  specula- 
tors, explorers,  the  Lessee  Company  and  their  agents,  and  the 
Srinoipal  seat  of  the  Indian  trade  for  a  wide  region.  Horatio 
ones,  {the  Interpreter^)  was  livng  In  a  log  house  covered  with 
bark  on  the  bank  of  the  lake,  and  had  a  small  stock  of  goods  for 
the  Indian  trade.  Asa  Ransom,  (the  afterwards  Pioneer  of 
Buffalo,)  occupied  a  hut  and  was  manafactoring  Indian  trink- 
ets. Lark  Jennings  had  a  log  tavern  and  trading  establishment 
^vered  with  bark  on  the  Lake  shore,  which  was  oceupied  by 
Dr.  Benton.  There  was  a  oloster  of  log  houses  all  along  on  the 
low  ground  near  the  Lake."  In  1794,  Col.  Williamson  having 
Msumed  the  agency  of  the  Palteney  Estate,  began  improvements 
at  Genera  by  the  erection  of  the  Geneva  Hotel.  "  It  was  eoitt- 
pleted  h&  December  and  opened  irith  a  i^nd  ball,  which  fum- 
aemorable 


lihMl 


ipooh 


eatlj  history 


ir\*S 


,»jt"<l  m  (JB?*w:i -;■?»?«)!,.-•  mam  i^mm^j  to  i**^'?* 


"^ 


800 


QMtttry.  The  h«tel  was  ialked  of  for  and  wida  as  a  wonderful 
Wfttarprisot  and  such  it  really  wae."  In  the  same  year  Col.  W. 
began  his  improvements  at  Sodus.  By  this  time  or  in  a  few 
years  later,  nearly  all  the  principal  towns  between  Seneca  Lake 
and  the  Genesee  river  in  the  northern  district  (^  the  parohase, 
bad  received  their  first  few  settlers. 

In  the  meantime  the  valleys  of  the  Susqaehanna  and  its 
tributaries,  had  been  penetrated  by  adventurers  from  the  South 
and  East.  In  the  year  1787,  Capt.  Joseph  Leonard  moving  up 
the  Susquehanna  in  a  canoe  with  his  family  from  Wyoming, 
made  the  first  permanent  settlement  at  Binghamton.  In  the 
same  year  Col.  Hose,  Joshua  Whitney,  and  a  few  others,  settled 
in  the  same  vicinity.  The  settlement  at  Wattles'  Ferry,  (now 
Unadilla  village,)  a  well  known  locality  in  the  early  days,  had 
been  made  sometime  previous. 

TIm  Indian  settlement  at  Oqoago,  (now  Windsor,)  as  has 
!>eei!i  elated  before,  wits  of  long  standing.  For  a  few  years  pre- 
vious to  the  French  War  of  1756,  an  Indian  mission  had  been 
established  there,  at  the  instance  of  the  elder  President  fid- 
wards.  A  small  colony  of  emigrants  made  a  settlement  at  this 
place  in  1785.  In  the  same  year  James  McMaster  made  the 
first  settlement  at  Owego.  Tioga  Point  is  said  to  have  been  set- 
tled as  early  as  1780,  but  this  seems  incredible,  unless  the  first 
residents  wore  Tories.  The  pioneers  of  the  Chemung  Valley 
were  principally  Wyoming  people,  originally  from  Connecticut. 
Col.  John  Handy  was  the  pioneer  at  £lmira,  settling  there  in 
1788. 

The  Chemung  Valley  eiyoyed  some  fame  before  the  arrival  of 
the  pioneers.  John  Miller,  £nooh  Warner,  John  Squires,  Abi* 
jah  Patterson,  Abner  Wells,  and  others,  are  given  as  the  names 
of  pioneers  of  the  valley  at  £lmira  and  its  vioinity ;  besides  Leb- 
beus  Hammond,  of  V^^oming,  renowned  for  personal  prowen 
above  mo8t  of  the  men  of  the  b(>rder.  A  notice  of  the  settle- 
ments of  Chemung,  Canisteo  and  ConhoetoB)  has  been  given  ia 
the  preceding  portions  of  this  voiame. 

The  brief  time  allowed  for  the  preparation  of  this  sketch,  and 
tiie  unparalleled  confusion  of  the  otherwise  valuable  works  from 
which  our  facts  most  be  derived,  will  compel  a  random  notiea 
Wthe  time  of  commencing  the  principal  settlements  remaining 
vanoticsd.  Rsv.  Andrew  Gray  and  Major  Moess  Van  Campea, 
wHh  a  vaull  eolony,  settled  at  Almond,  Allegany  county,  ia 
1796.  Judge  Ch«roh,.of  Angelica,  not  loag  afterward,  be||;aa 
4be  ietUeaienft  of  Geneaee  Valley  in  the  same  eoaaty.  WillMMi 
and  Jamef  Wadswerth,  emigntled  ta  their  iat  «lftt«  at  Big 
Tree  or  Geaeseo  from  Conneetiouk,  in  1790. 


It  was  till  about  the  year  1798,  that  the  State  Road  from  Uti- 
ca  to  thg  Genesee  River  at  Avon,  bv  way  of  Cayuga  Ferry  asd 
Canandaigua,  was  completed.  Id  1799,  a  stage  passed  oiref  thii 
road  in  three  days.  In  1800,  a  road  was  made  from  Avon  to 
Ganson's,  now  Le  Roy.  For  many  years  this  old  Buffalo  Road 
was  the  centre  of  settlement.  The  wide  belt  of  dark,  wet 
forest,  which  extended  along  the  shore  of  Lake  Ontario  from 
Sodus  to  Niagara,  formed  a  strong-hold  of  pestilence,  which  few 
dared  to  venture  into.  Not  even  the  nnmatched  hydraulic  ad- 
vantages of  the  Genesee  Falls,  could  tenrpt  the  speculator  to 
encounter  the  fevers  that  there  unnerved  the  arm  of  witetprise. 
It  is  true  that  as  earlv  as  1790,  ''  Indian  Allen,"  a  demi-savage 
renegade  from  New  Jersey,  resuming  a  sort  of  civilisation  afteir 
the  Revolutionary  war,  erected  milts  at  these  falls  on  a  certain 
"one  hundred  acre  tract"  given  him  for  that  purpose  by  Mr. 
I'helps,  but  it  seems  that  the  enterprise  was  premature. — 
Other  mills  alon^;  the  line  of  settlement  engrossed  the  custom, 
and  the  solitary  miller  had  hardly  employment  enough  to  keep 
his  mill  in  repair.  Sometimes  it  was  wholly  abandoned,  and 
the  chance  customer  put  the  mill  in  motion,  ground  his  own  grist, 
and  departed  through  the  forest.  In  18  lO,  however,  settlements 
having  been  made  in  the  Lake  district,  abridge  was  built  across 
the  Genesee  at  this  point,  and  in  the  foUowmg  year  Col.  Na- 
thaniel Rochester,  with  two  associates  Cols.  Fitzhugh  and  Carrol, 
had  become  the  proprietors  of  AUen'e  lot,  laid  out  a  village  plot 
and  sold  several  lots.  Thus  wa«  founded  the  city  of  Rochester. 
In  1817,  it  was  incorporated  a  village  with  the  name  of  Roches- 
terville.    In  1834,  it  received  its  city  charter. 

The  Holland  Company  purchased  their  great  estate  West  of 
the  Genesee  of  Robert  Morris,  in  1793,  and  1793.  Mr.  Joseph 
Ellicott,  of  Maryland,  the  first  agent  of  this  Company,  and  tat 
many  years  a  prominent  cithEen,  arrived  in  Western  New  York, 
in  1707.  In  1801,  Batavia  was  founded  under  his  auspices. — 
In  1798,  there  was  an  insignificant  huddle  of  log  houses,  not  % 
dozen  in  all,  on  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Buffalo.  The 
possession  of  the  lands  at  the  mouth  of  Buffalo  creek,  long  a ^a* 
vorite  place  of  rendezvous  of  the  Indians,  was  deemed  of  Irapw- 
tance  by  Mr.  Ellicott,  and  on  purchasing  it,  plotted  there  the 
Tillage  of  New  Amsterdam^  with  Its  SchimmelpiBninck,  Stadtnit> 
«kij  and  VollenhoTea  Avenues. 


i^iyf^ltAi 


;^^*V+*Ji|.- 


it'*. 


SfitTLteR-LIFK.  ■" 

I'he  Editor  has  had  in  his  possession  a  manuscript  sketch  ot 
Settler-life,  of  mach  value  for  its  exaotnes|  and  particularity  of 
detail,  prepared  several  years  since  by  a  gentleman  of  accurate 
observation  and  most  just  sympathies,  himself  in  early  life  a 
woodf  man  and  a  true  lover  of  nature,  and  always  a  hearty  friend 
of  the  pioneer.  It  was  expected  that  liberal  extracts  from  this 
manuscript  might  have  been  given,  but  being  unexpectedly  cur- 
tailed in  spaee,  we  ean  present  but  a  passage  or  two. 


A  SEtTLER'S  HOM£.- 


"As  I  was  travelling  through  the  county  on  horseback  on  a 
summer  day  in  an  early  year  of  settlement,  I  fell  in  compa- 
ny  with  two  gentlemen,  who  were  going  in  the  same  direction. 
One  of  them  was  the  land  Agent  from  Bath,  who  was  going  to 
the  Genesee  river,  the  other  was  a  foreigner  on  his  way  from  , 
Easton,  in  Pennsylvania,  to  Presque  Isle,  (now  Erie)  on  Lake 
Erie.  We  had  followed  in  Indian  file  a  mere  path  through 
the  woods  for  several  miles,  passing  at  long  intervals  a  log  house 
where  the  occupants  had  just  made  a  beginning  ;  when  having 
passed  the  outskirts  of  settlement  and  penetrated  deep  into  the 
woods,  our  attention  was  attracted  by  the  tinkling  of  a  cow 
bell,  and  thu  sound  of  an  axe  in  chopping.  We  soon  saw  a  lit- 
tle break  in  the  forest,  and  a  log  house.  As  we  approached  we 
heard  the  loud  barking  of  a  dog,  and  as  we  got  near  the  clear- 
ing were  met  by  him  with  an  angry  growl  as  if  he  would  have 
said,  "  You  can  come  no  further  without  my  masters  permis- 
sion." A  shrill  whistle  from  within  called  off  the  dog.  We  pro- 
ceeded to  the  house.  A  short  distance  from  it,  staging  on  the 
fallen  trunk  of  a  large  hemlock  tree,  which  he  had  just  chop- 
ped once  in  two,  was  a  fine  looking  young  man  four  or  five  and 
twenty  years  of  age,  with  an  axe  in  his  hand.  He  was  dress- 
ed in  a  tow-frock  and  trowsers,  with  his  head  and  feet  bare. 
The  frock,  open  at  the  top,  showed  that  he  wore  no  shirt,  and 
exhibited  the  muscular  ihooldera  aad  full  chest  of  a  "very  atb> 


Wic  and  potrerfol  man.  When  "^e  stopped  oar  hones  h«  step- 
ped off  the  log,  shook  hands  with  the  agent,  and  saluting  ua 
frankly,  asked  us  to  dismount  and  rest  ourselves,  urging  thai 
the  distance  to  the  next  house  ivas  six  miles,  with  nothing  but 
marked  trees  to  guide  us  a  part  of  the  way ;  that  it  was  nearly 
noon,  and  although  he  oould  not  promise  us  anything  very  good 
to  eat,  yet  he  oould  give  us  something  to  prevent  us  from  suffer- 
ing with  hunger.  He  had  no  grass  growing  yet,  but  he  would 
give  the  horses  some  green  oats.  We  concluded  to  accept  the 
invitation  und 'dismounted  and  went  into  the  house. 

'^  Before  describing  the  house  I  will  notice  the  appearance  of 
things  around  it,  premising  that  the  settler  had  begun  his  im- 
provements in  the  spring  before  our  arrival.  A  little  boy  about 
three  years  old  was  playing  with  the  dog,  which  though  so  reso- 
lute at  our  approach,  now  permitted  the  child  to  push  him  over 
and  sit  down  upon  him.  A  pair  of  oxen  and  a  cow  with  «  bell 
on,  were  lying  in  the  shade  of  the  woods ;  two  or  three  hogs 
were  rooting  in  the  leaves  near  the  cattle,  and  a  few  fowls  were 
scratching  the  soil.  There  was  a  clearing,  or  rather  chopping 
around  the  house  of  about  four  acres,  half  of  which  had  been 
cleared  off  and  sowed  with  oats,  which  had  grown  very  rank 
and  good.  The  other  half  of  the  chopping  had  been  merely 
burnt  over  and  then  planted  with  corn  and  potatoes,  a  hill  be- 
ing planted  wherever  there  was  room  between  the  logs.  The 
corn  did  not  look  very  well.  The  chopping  was  enclosed  with 
a  log  fence.  A  short  distance  from  the  house  a  fine  spring  of 
water  gushed  out  of  the  gravel  bank,  from  which  a  small  brook 
ran  down  across  the  clearing,  along  the  borders  of  which  a  few 
geese  were  feeding. 

•'  VVhen  we  entered  the  house  the  young  settler  said,  "  Wife, 
here  is  the  land-agent  and  two  other  men,'^  and  turning  to  us 
■aid,  "  This  is  my  wife."  She  was  a  pretty  looking  young  wo- 
man dressed  in  a  coarse  loose  dress,  and  bare  footed.  When 
her  husband  introduced  us,  she  was  a  good  deal  embarrassed, 
and  the  flash  of  her  dark  eyes  and  the  crimson  glow  that  passed 
over  her  countenance,  showed  that  she  was  vexed  at  our  intra- 
■ion.^  The  young  settler  observed  her  vexation  and  said,  "Nev- 
er mind  Sally,  the  Squire  (so  he  called  the  agent)  knows  how 
people  have  to  live  in  the  woods."  She  regained  her  composure 
in  a  moment  and  greeted  us  hospitably,  and  without  any  apolo- 
gies for  her  house  or  her  costume.  After  a  few  minutes  conver- 
sation, on  the  settler's  suggesting  that  he  had  promised  "  these 
men  something  to  eat  to  prevent  their  getting  hungry,"  she  be- 
^n  to  prepare  the  frugal  mealr    Winen  we  first  ejatered  tha 


SH 


>  iO  she  sat  near  the  door,  spinninfi;  flax  on  a  little  wheel,  and 
a  babj  was  lying  near  her  in  a  cradle  formed  of  the  bark  of  » 
birch  tree,  which  restinfi;  like  a  trough  on  rockers,  made  a  very 
smooth,  neat  little  cradle.  While  the  settler  and  his  other 
guests  were  engaged  in  conversation,  I  took  notice  of  the  house 
and  furniture.  The  house  was  about  20  by  26  feet,  constructed 
of  round  logs  chinked  with  pieces  of  ^plit  logs,  and  plastered  on 
the  outside  with  clay.  The  floors  were  made  of  split  logs  with 
the  flat  side  up ;  the  door,  of  thin  pieces  split  out  of  a  large  log, 
and  the  roof  ort^e  same'.  The  windows  were  holes  unprotected! 
by  glass  or  sash ;  the  Are  plaee  was  nnade  of  stone,  and  the  chim- 
ney, of  sticks  and  clay.  On  one  side  of  the  fire  place  was  a  lad- 
der leading  to  the  chamber.  There  was  a  bed  in  one  corner  of 
the  room,  a  table  and  five  or  six  chairs,  and  on  one  side  a  few 
shelves  of  split  boards,  on  which  were  a  fow  articles  of  crockery 
and  some  tm-ware,  and  on  one  of  tlicni  a  few  books.  Behind; 
the  door  was  a  large  spinning  wheel  and  a  reel,  and  over  head' 
on  wooden  hooks  fastened  to  the  hcanis  were  a  number  of  things^ 
among  which  were  a  nice  rifle,  powder  horn,  bullet  pouch,  toma-- 
hawk  and  bunting  knife — the  complete  equipment  of  the  hun- 
ter and  the  frontier  settler.  Evory  thin«T  looked  nice  and  tidy, 
even  to  the  rough  stones  which  bad  boon  laid  down  for  a  heartbr 

*'  In  a  short  time  our  dinner  was  ready.  It  consisted  of  com 
bread  and  milk,  eaten  out  of  tin  basins  with  iron  spoons.  The 
settler  ate  with  us,  but  his  wife  was  employed  while  we  were  at 
dinner  in  sewing  on  what  appeared  to  be  a  child's  dress.  The 
settler  and  the  agent  talked  all  the  time,  ponerally  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  settlement  of  the  country.  After  dinner  the  latter 
and  his  companion  took  their  departure,  the  one  making  the  \iU 
t/)e  boy  a  present  of  &  half  dollar,  aud  the  other  giving  the  same, 
smn  to  the  baby. 

"  I  have  now  introduced  to  the  reader  one  of  the  best  andf 
roost  intelligent  among  the  ^-'st  settlers  of  the  county.  He  wa» 
a  man  of  limited  information,  except  as  to  what  related  to  hie 
own  particular  business  j  but  bis  judgment  was  good,  and  he 
was  frank,  candid  and  fearless.  He  belonged  to  that  class  of 
men  who  distinguished  themselves  as  soldiers  dnring  our  Revo^ 
lationary  War,  and  who  were  in  many  instances  the  descend- 
ants of  the  celebrated  "  bold  yeomanry  of  oli  England,"  whose 
praises  were  commemorated  by  the  English  bard  when  he 

wrote,  „  - 

••  Princes  and  lords  may  flourish  or  may  fade, 
A  breath  can  make  them,  as  a  breath  has  made  ;. 
But  a  bold  yeomanry,  their  country's  pride, 
When  once  destroyed,  can  never  be  supplied."- 


S95 

tttC  rRlEMDLINBSS  OF  THE  PIONBERS/  i" 

"The  social  relations  and  neighborly  intercourse  of  the  iet> 
tiers  were  of  the  most  kind  and  friendly  character,  and  proved 
the  truth  of  the  common  saying  that  'people  vrere  much  more 
friendly  in  new  countries  than  they  were  in  the  old  settlements.* 
It  was  no  uncommon  thing  among  them  to  comply  literally  with 
the  injunction  of  scripture  which  requires  us  'to  give  to  him 
that  asketh  and  from  him  that  would  i>orrow  to  turn  not  away.' 
Their  kindness  and  sympathy  to  and  for  each  other  was  indeed 
most  extraordinary,  and  showed  a  degree  of  sensibility  which 
we  look  for  in  vain  in  a  more  cultivated  and  enlightened  state 
of  society.    At  the  commencement  of  the  sugar-making  perhaps, 
some  one  in  the  settlement  would  ct^t  his  leg  badly  with  an  axe, 
making  a  deep  and  ghastly  wound,  which  would  render  him  a 
cripple    for  weeks  and   perhaps  for  months.    The  neighbors 
would  assemble,  that  is,  make  a  bee  and  do  all  his  work  as  far 
as  it  could  be  done  at  that  time,  and  then,  by  arrangement 
among  themselves,  one   man  would  go   every  afternoon  and 
gather  the  sap,  carrying  it  to  the  house  where  it  could  be  boiled 
up  by  the  settler's  wife.     Again,  one  would  be  taken  sick  in 
harvest  time:  his  neighbors  would  make  a  bee.   harvest  and 
secure  his  crops,  when,  at  the  same  time,  their  own  grain  very 
likely  would  be  going  to  waste  for  want  of  gathering.    In  seed 
time  a  man's  ox  would  perhaps  be  killed  by  the  falling    of 
a  tree :  the  neighbors  would  come  with  their  teams  and  drag  in 
bis  wheat  when  they  had  not  yet  sowed  their  own.     A  settler's 
house  would  be  accidentally  burned  down — his  family  would  be 
provided  for  at  the  nearest  neighbors,  and  all  would  turn  out 
and  build  and  finish  a  house  in  a  day  or  two  so  that  the  man 
could  take  his  family  into  it.    Instances  like  these,  in  which  the 
settlers  exibited  their  kindness  and  sympathy  for  each  other 
might  be  extended  indefinitelv,  but  we  have  referred  to  a  suffi- 
cient number  to  show  the  kindness  and  good  feeling  that  existed 
among  them." 


..tpfifi 


W 


A  reminiscence;. 

"For  the  purpose  of  showing  how  much  time  and  labor  it 
reqnired  in  many  cases  for  the  first  settlers  to  procure  even  the 
most  common  articles  of  food,  I  will  state  what  has  been  related 
to  ne  by  one  of  the  most  respectable  and  intelligent  ot  the  first 
settlera  of  Dansville.*    He  stated  that  when  he  first  settled  in 

^he  late  Judge  Hammond,  of  Hanunondsport, 


290 


that  town,  it  was  very  difficult  to  procure  proTiaions  of  any 
kind ;  and  ttiere  was  no  grain  to  be  liad  nny  where  but  of  the 
Indians,  at  Squaky  Hill,  who  had  corn,  which  they  would  sell 
for  a  silver  dollar  a  bunhel.  In  order  to  get  some  com  for 
bread— his  supply  having  become  exhausted— he  went  several 
miles  to  a  place  where  a  wealthy  mnn  was  making  large  im- 

Erovements  and  employed  a  good  many  hands.  He  chopped  for 
im  four  days,  for  which  ho  received  two  dollars.  He  then 
worked  one  day  for  another  man  to  pay  for  the  use  of  a  horser 
and  on  the  next  day  started  fur  the  Indian  Village,  a  distance 
of  fifteen  or  twenty  miles,  where  he  got  two  bushels  of  corn  for 
his  two  dollars.  'I'he  corn  had  been  kept  by  the  Indians  tied 
up  in  bunches  by  the  husks,  and  hung  around  the  walls  of  their 
oabio,  and  was  very  black  and  dirty,  covered  with  soot  and 
asbesu  He  took  tho  corn  home  and  hia  wife  washed  it  cleoD 
with  a  good  deal  of  labor  and  dried  it  so  that  it  could  be  ground. 
He  then  got  the  horse  another  day,  and  carried  the  corn  to  mill^ 
twelve  or  fifteen  miles,  and  was  fortunute  enough  to  get  it 
ground  and  reach  home  the  same  day.  Here  we  see  that  it 
took  seven  days  work  of  the  settler  to  get  the  meal  of  twa 
bushels  of  corn.  The  old  gentleman's  eye  kindled  when  be 
related  these  circumstances,  and  bo  said  that  tho  satisfaction 
and  happiness  he  felt  when  sitting  by  the  tire  and  looking  at 
the  bag  full  of  meat  standing  in  the  corner  of  his  log  house,  far 
surpassed  what  he  experienced  at  any  other  time  in  the  acquisi* 
tion  of  property,  although  he  became  in  time  the  owner  of  a 
large  farm,  with  a  large  stock  of  horses,  cattle,  and  sheep,  and 
all  the  necessary  implements  of  a  substantial  and  wealthy 
farmer." 


•li 


V 


t'0 


■!/.   ^H} 


)>pUh<': 


.ii?»i4?..fe*U! 


THE  VILLAGE  OF  CORNING.* 


'Prepared  for  this  volume  by  a  correspondent. 


u 


Corning  owes  its  existence  and  prosperity  to  no  original  supe* 
riority  of  location  over  neighboring  villages,  but  has  sprung  up 
to  a  thriving  and  commanding  position  by  having  become  the 
centre  of  great  public  improvements.  The  history  of  these  is 
the  history  of  the  place. 

By  the  construction   of  the  Chemung  Canal  this  point  was 
made  an  inland  termination  of  navigable  communication  with 
the  Hudson  river  and  the  ocean.    It  was  consequently  the  poini 
from  which  the  products  of  the  forest,  the  field,  and  the  rivor,  for  f' 
a  vast  extent  of  country  were  destined  to  seek  a  market.    The  '^''^ 

•  '  -  .m 


i-i 


rjsfti'  a^f- 


\ 


207 


id 


Mgaoioui  enterprise  of  a  few  oapitaliate  pointed  to  it  as  the 
futnre  centre  or  an  extensive  oommeroe. 

The  extensive  mines  of  bituminous  coal,  at  Blossburgh,  in 
the  state  of  Pennsylvanin,  had  early  attracted  attention,  and 
shortly  after  the  completion  of  the  Chemung  canal  two  corpo* 
rations,  one  of  which  had  been  created  by  the  state  of  PennsyN 
vania,  to  construct  a  slack  water  navigation  from  Bloaeburg  to 
the  state  line,  and  the  other  by  the  State  of  Nrvt  York,  to 
continue  the  srme  to  KImira,  were  authorized  by  their  respective 
states  to  build  railroads  connecting  at  the  state  line,  and  in  this 
state,  extending  to  a  point  at  or  near  the  termination  of  the 
Chemung  canal 

The  work  of  constructing  these  railroads  was  commenced  in 
1836,  and  at  the  same  time  an  association  of  gentlemen  now 
known  as  the  Corning  Company,  having  purchased  a  large  tract 
of  land  on  both  sides  uf  the  Chemung  river,  and  laying  out  streets 
and  lots,  made  a  beginning  of  the  future  village  of  Corning  by 
the  erection  of  a  large  hotel  called  the  ''Corning  House."  The 
Corning  and  Blossburg  railroad  was  completed  and  put  into 
operation  in  1840.  About  the  same  time  the  work  of  building 
the  New  York  and  Erie  railroad  which  passes  through  the  village 
was  commenced  in  the  vicinity  and  prosecuted  vigorously  tul 
the  suspension  of  the  work,  in  1842.  I'he  Bank  of  Corning, 
with  a  capital  of  $104,000,  had  been  organised  and  put  m 
operation,  in  1839.  8o  rapid  was  the  growth  of  the  village, 
that  the  population  amounted  in  1841  to  900. 

Here  its  prosperity  was  for  a  time  arrested.  The  commercial 
revolutions  which  paralyzed  enterprise  and  industry  everywhere 
were  felt  with  peculiar  severity  here.  The  work  upon  the  New 
York  and  Erie  railroad  which  had  drawn  together  a  considerable 
population,  was  suspended.  The  property  of  the  Corning  and 
Blossburg  railroad  was  seized  by  creditors.  The  price  of  lumber, 
the  great  staple  of  the  country,  would  hardly  pay  the  cost  of 
mannfacture.  Large  quantities  of  coal  lay  upon  the  banlc  of 
the  river  and  in  eastern  markets,  wanting  purchasers.  Bank- 
ruptcy was  almost  universal,  and  the  resources  of  industry  were 
almost  entirely  cut  off. 

Notwithstanding  these  drawbacks  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
village,  the  advantages  of  its  position  and  the  hopeful  energies 
of  its  citizens  did  not  suffer  the  relapse  to  continue  long.— 
After  a  while  the  demand  for  coal  increased  and  the  market 
enlarged.  Improved  prices  of  lumber  stimulated  its  manufac- 
ture, and  larger  quantities  were  brought  here  for  shipment^ 
The  place  became  the  centre  of  a  heavy  trade,  and  oapiUl 


l« 


Vp 


tongbt  investment  in  manufacturee.  In  1848  tba  tillage  wm' 
inoorpornted  under  the  general  laWi  containing  at  the  time  1700 
inhabitantfl. 

In  the  mean  time  the  work  of  building  the  £rie  railroad  waa 
resumed,  and  on  the  first  day  of  January,  1850,  was  opened  a 
direct  railway  communication  with  the  city  of  New  York.  The 
elements  of  prosperity  seemed  complete. 

But  there  were  elements  to  contend  with  of  an  adverse  and 
direful  character.  On  the  eighteenth  day  of  May,  1U50,  occur* 
red  a  fire,  more  extended  and  disastrous  in  proportion  to  tho 
size  of  the  place,  than  has  often,  if  ever  happened  elsewhere. 
The  entire  business  part  of  the  village,  compriaing  nearly  one 
bundred  buildings,  with  large  quantities  of  lumber,  was  in  a 
few  hours  laid  in  ashes.  Vet  the  disaster  was  so  coqimon  and 
universal  — misfortune  had  so  many  companions— there  were  so 
many  to  share  theloss  tliat  the  burden  seemed  to  be  scaroelv 
felt,  l.he  embers  had  not  cooled  before  shanties  of  rough  boardi 
supplied  the  place  of  stores,  and  for  months  almost  the  entire 
business  was  carried  on  in  places,  neit|)er  secure  from  summer 
rains  or  thieves.  In  the  mean  time  the  work  of  rebuilding  was 
going  on,  and  in  no  long  time  substantial  and  splendid  buildings 
again  occupied  the  place  of  the  ruins. 

In  the  year  1852  was  opened  the  first  section  of  the  Buffalo, 
Corning  and  New  York  railroad,  having  its  eastern  terminus  at 
Corning.  The  remainder  of  the  line  to  Buffalo,  wilU  be  in 
operation  in  the  course  of  1853.  The  Corning  and  Blossburg 
railroad  also  was  relaid  with  a  new  and  heavy  rail  and  newly 
equipped  throughout. 

Too  annual  exports  of  coal  and  lumber  are  forty  thousand 
tons  of  the  former,  and  fifty  million  feet  of  the  latter.  la  its 
canal  commercp,  Corning  is  the  fifth  port  in  the  state. 

In  new  villages  and  settlements,  schools  and  churches  are  apt 
to  receive  but  secondary  attention.  In  Corning  its  Union  School 
of  four  or  five  hundred  scholars  has  maintained  a  not  inferiot 
rank,  and  its  five  Churches  give  evidence  of  some  considerable 
attention  to  morals  and  religion.  4. 

The  population  is  now  not  far  from  three  thousand,  and  ther 
sanguine  predict  an  increase  vastly  more  rapid  in  future  than  it 
has  beep  in  former  years. 

^'       ^  THE  GREAT  WINDFALL. 

The  first  stable  in  the  town  of  Bath  was  literally  •'pat 
np  by  a  whirlwind.**    in  1791,  or  about  that  time,  a  destmotiyo 


JS, 


<«:'■•■ 


2^ 


tivrnoane  swept  oyer  the  land.  Jadgo  Baker  in  after  year! 
took  pains  to  ooUcot  infurmntion  of  the  movements  of  this  great 
"northern  fanutio,"  and  wm  of  the  opinion  that  its  path  from 
Lake  Erie  to  the  Atlantic  was  about  ninety  miles  in  breadth, 
and  that  the  northern  limit  of  its  agitation  in  this  county  was 
at  the  upper  town  lino  of  Urbana.  A  more  violent  ^'aeitator^' 
never  puBsed  through  the  land.  Thousands  of  acres  or  foresfe 
were  prootrated,  and  the  frightful  windfalls,  briar-grown  and 
tangled,  wliich  settlers  afterwards  found  in  this  county  were 
the  effects  of  tliis  ''inflammatory  appeal'  to  the  weak  brethrea 
of  the  wilderness.  We  have  met  a  veteran  farmer  who  was  e, 
child  at  the  time  when  the  tornado  passed,  and  happened  on 
that  day  to  bo  left  by  bis  parents  to  take  care  of  still  younger 
children,  and  remembers  hiding  in  a  hole  in  the  ground  with 
his  little  brothers  while  the  forest  was  filled  with  the  terrifio 
roar  of  falling  pines. 

Mr.  Jonathan  Cook,  an  early  settler  at  Painted  Post,  was 
driving  a  pack  horse  laden  with  provisions  to  Pleasant  Valley 
where  Phelps  and  Gorham*s  surveyors  were  at  work,  and  was 
near  the  numth  of  Smith's  creek,  6a  the  Conhocton,  when  the 
storm  struck^him.  He  took  refuge  ander  an  oak  tree,  while  the 
wind,  sweeping  furiously  up  the  ravine,  uprooted  the  maples, 
twisted  branches  from  the  trees  and  scattered  them  in  the  air 
like  wispH  of  hay.  A  whirling  gust  caught  the  cluster  under 
which  he  was  standing.  The  oak  beneath  which  he  had  taken 
refuge  was  prostrated,  but  he  himRcK  fell  with  his  face  to  the 
ground  and  escaped  unhurt.  His  horse  however  met  with  a 
strange  catastrophe.  The  whirlwind  tore  up  several  large  trees 
and  imprisoned  the  unfortunate  animal  in  a  cage  so  impregnable 
tkat  the  driver  was  unable  to  extricate  him,  but  was  obliged  to 
go  over  to  the  surveyors'  camp  and  get  men  to  return  with  axes 
and  make  a  breach  in  the  walls  of  the  stable.  ThiB  was  ruther 
a  rough  j  oke,  eyen  fctr  a  whirlwind,  but  the  horse  was  but  little 
hurt. 


.f-uw  frm 


THE  SETTLERS  OF  DANSVILLE. 


(The  notice  of  the  settlement  of  the  town  of  Dansville  origi- 
nally prepared  for  this  work  was  accidentally  lost.  At  thit^ 
time  it  is  impossible  to  supply  the  names  of  the  settlers  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  town,  furnished  by  Wm.  C.  Rogers,  Esq., 
of  Rogersville.  The  village  of  Dansville  falling  within  th* 
proTince  of  the  author  of  the  History  of  Phelps  and  Gorhaw!* 


300 


'm^  ^ 


Purchase,  a  brief  notice  of  the  settlers  <^  that  portion  of  the  old 
town,  formerly  a  part  of  Steuben  county  is  condensed  from  that 
valuable  and  copious  work.)  The  first  settler  upon  the  site  of 
the  village  of  Dansville,  was  Neil  McCoy.  He  came  from 
Painted  Post  and  located  where  his  step-son,  James  McCurdy, 
who  came  in  with  him,  now  resides.  Tho  family  was  four  days 
making  the  journey  from  Painted  Post,  camping  out  two  nights 
on  the  way.  To  raise  their  log-house,  help  came  from  Bath, 
Geneseo  and  Mount  Morris,  with- Indians  from  Squaky  Hill 
and  Gardeau.  During  the  first  season,  it  is  mentioned  that 
Mrs.  McCoy,  hearing  of  the  arrival  of  Judge  Hurlburt*s  family 
at  Arkport,  eleven  miles  distant,  resolved  as  an  act  of  backwoods 
courtesy  to  make  the  first  cpP.  Taking  her  son  with  her,  she 
made  the  journey  through  the  woods  by  marked  trees,  dined 
with  her  new  neighbors,  and  returned  in  time  to  do  her  milking 
after  a  walk  of  twenty-two  miles. 

Amariah  Hammond  Esq.,  a  widely  known  pioneer  of  the  town 
who  died  at  a  venerable  age  in  the  winter  of  1850.  '^coming  in 
to  explore,  slept  two  nights  under  a  pine  tree  on  the  premises 
he  afterwards  purchased.  Early  in  the  spring  of  1796  he 
removed  his  young  family  from  Bath  to  this  place ;  'his  wife  and 
infant  child  on  horseback,  his  household  goods  and  farming 
uteneils  on  a  sled  drawn  by  four  oxen,  and  a  hired  man  driving 
the  cattle." 

Captain  Daniel  P.  Faulkner  was  an  early  property  holder 
and  spirited  citizen  of  the  town  in  the  palmy  days  of  Col. 
Williamson,  and  from  his  familiar  anpellative,  "Captain  Daii** 
the  village  took  its  name.  In  1798  Jacob  Welch,  Jacob  Martz, 
Conrad  Martz,  George  Shirey  and  Frederick  Baruhart  emi- 
grated to  Dansville  with  their  families.  They  came  up  the 
Conhocton  valley,  and  were  three  days  on  the  road  from  Bath, 
camping  out  two  nights.  At  the  arrival  of  this  party  the 
names  of  the  settlers  already  on  the  ground  besides  those  before 
named  were  Mr.  Phenix,  James  Logan,  David  SchoU,  John 
Vanderwenter,  Jared  Erwin,  William  Perine.  Col.  Nathaniel 
Rochester  became  a  resident  of  Dansville  in  1810. 

The  settlement  of  the  southern  part  of  this  town  was  not 
oommenced  till  about  the  year  1816.  Of  the  settlers  in  that 
district  we  can  only  recall  the  names  of  Messrs.  Wm.  C,  Rp- 
Ars  and  Jonas  Bridge.  In  the  year  1816  (or  about  that  time^ 
f/lf-  Rogers,  on  arriving  in  the  vicinity  of  the  present  village  of 
Rogersville,  found  the  merest  handful  of  settlers  in  all  that 
quarter.  At  this  day  the  wil(*?nies8  has  given  place  to  a  pleas- 
ant village  with  an  academy  of  sabitantial  worth,  Burrottnde4 
hj  a  thriving  farming  oountry. 


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COfiTENTS. 


Notice  0^  the  f  opogMphy  and  Geology  of  Steuben  County,. 


Pveliminary  History ; 


CHAPTER  I. 
Ptfirehase:  Title.. 


.16 


CHAPTER  II. 

iSteuben  County  immediately  previous  to  its  Settlement.  A  jour- 
ney sixty-five  years  ago :  the  Forest :  the  Rivers.  &c. :  Benja- 
min Patterson  the  Hunter  :  Skirmish  at  Freeland's  Fort :  Scuf- 
fle with  the  Interpreter :  the  wild  Ox  of  Qenesee .29 

CHAPTER  lit. 

i%e  settlements  made  Under  the  purchase  by  Phelps  and  Gorham. 
The  old  town  of  Painted  Post :  origin  of  the  name :  the  first  set- 
tlers :  the  settlement  of  the  upper  valley  of  the  Canisteo  :  the 
Canisteo  Flats  :  life  in  the  Canisteo  Valley  :  a  wrestling  match  : 
Captain  John :  old  Enemies  :  Van  Campen  and  Moliawk  :  a  dis- 
comfited savage :  capture  of  a  saw-mill :  the  lower  Canisteo  val- 
ley :  the  Tioga  valley :  Col.  Lindley  :  a  Deerslayer  immortal- 
ized,   .50 

*  CHAPTER  IV. 

The  great  Air-Castle :  the  London  Association :  Captain  William- 
son :  Northumberland:  the  German  Colony:  the  passage  of  the 
Germans  tlirough  the  Wilderness :  terrors  and  tribulations :  a 
"  Parisian  scone." 82 

••    •  -.  CHAPTER  V. 

The  settlement  of  Bath  :  consolatory  reflections  :  Serpents :  JVar- 
rative  of  General  McClure:  character  of  the  Settlers:  early 
citizens,  .the  Camerons,  Andrew  Smith,  &c, :  an  auto-biography : 
Emigration  :  the  wilderness  :  settlers  at  Mud  Creek :  Bath  : 
Captain  Williamson  :  a  canoe-voyage  :  Building :  Speculation  i 
navigation  of  the  Rivers  t  business  fortunes  and  misfortunes  : 
Crooked  Lake  navy  :  a  portly  and  able  bodied  gentleman  extin- 
guished: Indian  traffic:  River  navigation:  conclusion  of  the 
Narrative r 104 

CHAiPtER  VI. 

Captain  Williamson's  administration :  life  at  Bath;  grand  Simoner 
War:  Races:  Theatre:  vindication  of  the  ancients:  BathQa- 
sette }  County  Newspapers  *  the  Bar »  Phj^sioians *. . .  .14T 


i   ilk 

m 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Settlement  of  Pleasant  Valley :  Frederiokton,  including  Wayne, 
Tyrone  and  Readine :  Prattsburgh :  Wheeler  :  Pulteney  :  How- 
ard :  Hornby :  Gonnocton  :  the  towns  south  of  the  Canisteo :  Or- 
ange :  Campbell :  Avoca :  Wayland, \ 217 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  Air-Castle  vanishing :  close  of  Col.  Williamson's  career :  his 
.  charact«)r, 206 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Steuben  County  since  the  period  of  settlement :  disasters :  pro- 
gress: prospects:  the  citizens  and  the  land  proprietors,.... 21 7 

CHAPTER  OF  MISCELLANIES. 

The  Indians :  incidents :  Indian  names,  &c. :  Qamc,  &c. :  deer : 
wolves :  panthers :  bears :  beaver :  '^'  snake  stories :"  anecdotes 
of  the  chase :  the  "  Plumping  Mill :"  Incidents  of  the  War  of 
1812  i  the  Militia :  the  Steuben  Company  at  the  battle  of  Queens- 
ton  Heights^:  thefighting  Chief  Justice:  an  incident:  the  "Bat- 
tle of  Dan8^1e.'N , 241 


APPENDIX.  , 

Organifeation  of  Steuben  County,  and  statistical  tables, 279 

Sketch  of  General  History  of  settlement  in  Western  New  York,282 

Settler-Life, 292 

The  village  of  Corning 296 

The  "  Great  Windfair  of  1791, 298 

The  Settlers  of  Dansville, 290 


Onpife 
On  page 
On  page 
'On  page 
On  page 
On  page 
On  page 
On  page 
Onpa^e 
'Onpaf« 


ERRATA. 

10,  for  Ganistea  read  Canisteo, 

14,  for  Soandinarian  read  Scandinavian. 

21,  for  weary  Woodsmen  read  wary  woodsmear. 

89,  for  Tarathniel  read  Jarathmel. 

84,  for  beating  read  boaiing. 

89,  for  town  in  3d  line  read  towns. 

90,  for  Shemokifcn  read  Shemokam. 
94,  for  oongars  read  cougars. 
199,  for  Ketchers  read  Ketches. 
218,  for  frugal  read  feudal. 


4 


4 


303 


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PREPARING  FOR  BATTLE^ 


A  PIONEER,  MEETING  AN  OLD  SETTLER 


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HISTORY  OF  STEUBEN  COUNTY. 


This  book,  (now  in  course  of  publication,)  is  one  of  deep 
interest  to  the  general  reader,  and  more  particularly  valua- 
ble to  the  descendants  and  family  connections  of  the 


■<y 


FIRST    SETTLERS, 


The  Stoi^  of  their  ADVENTURES,  PRIVATIONS. 
DARING,  and  HARDIHOOD,  should  be  perpetuated,  and 
(his  book  will  present  a  suitable  memorial  of  their  lives, 
worthy  of  being  treasured  up  in  eviery  family. 

The  general  History  of  the  County,  Notices  of  the  First 
Settlements^  and  subsequent  Improvement,  Biographical 
Sketches,  Anecdotes,  4*c.,  will  combine  to  make  it  a  book  of 
the  highest  interest.  (ET*  The  book  will  contain  notices  of 
more  than  One  HuTidred  of  the  Pioneers  who  made  the  first 
clearing  in  this  county. 

N.  B.— It  is  intended  to  enlarge  this  book  by  adding  new 
biographical  notices  of  families,  when  such  can  be  obtained, 
the  diificulty  of  obtaining  full  inforn\ation  has  been  much 
greater  than  could  reasonably  be  supposed. 


Vr^TTjVfri   TVTTnVr  ^^^  siecure  a  <Tood  eoropensa- 
XV-FUi^Vjr   IMirjiy  tion  by  taking  Towns  or  hirger 

I  sections,  and  procuring  subscribers  for  the  History  of  Steu- 

ben County.  Ten  or  fifteeti  dollars  ready  cash  is  all  that 
will  bereauiMd  to  start  with.  Call  soon;  first  come,  fir^t 
•erved.    ^     '  '    R.  L.  UNDERBILL  &  CO 


■^-., 


;>. 


306 


Cap  and  liOtter  Paper,  from  yarious  celebra- 
ted manufactories  in  the  Eastern  States,  also  Eoglish  and 
French — very  superior  qualities,  and  very  cheap — some  as 
low  as  $1.50  per  ream. 

IVote  Paper^  of  beautiful  patterns — for  Invitations, 
&c.,  also,  Commercial  Note  Paper,  or  business  paper,  oftbe 
very  best  quality. 

OlITelopes. — Business  and  Law  Envelopes,  of  all 
qualities  and  styles.  Wafers,  Wax,  Tape,  Sand,  Blotting 
Paper,  Rulers,  Steel  Pens,  Inkstands,  Calendars,  Clasps, 
Paper  Weights, 


f'MSES^'S  ^Sililli«$* 


V-M     *,t    : 


Drawing  Pencils  in  Boxes,  Office  Pencils,  Carpenter*^  Pen- 
oils,  Red  Crayons,  dec. 


i'     :■;    «K?f 


Bagley's  celebrated  manu&ctury,  also  some  at  very  low 
prices. 

DRAWI]¥«    niATERIAIiS. 

Monochromatic  Board,  Crayons,   Stumps,  &c.,  Bristol 
Board»  Drawing  Paper,  Crayon  Paper,  dec.  N.i  j 

Pocket  Maps,  Outline  Maps  for  Sehoob,  Miips  fer  tbe 
Offiee  or  Hoase  od  rollers. 


♦  .^ 


ao7 


A  new  edition  of  Walter  Scott's  celebrated  Novell,  it 
now  in  course  of  publication.    They  are  printed  on  fine  pa- 

¥!r,  with  large  clear  type,  and  are  sold  at  50  cents  each.— 
be  following  are  now  ready. 

Waverly,  Guy  Mannering,  Antiquary,  Rob  Roy,  Black 
Dwarf,  and  Old  Mortality,  Heart  of  Mid  Lothian,  Bride  of 
j^ammermoor,  and  Legend  of  Montrose. 

PsycHoi^oQy,  ^. — A.  J.  Davis'  works,  Dod's  Lectures, 
Celestial  Telegraph,  and  other  Works  upon  Spiritual  Mani- 
festations, now  on  hand.  New  works  of  this  character  as 
soon  as  published. 

SuifDAY  School  Libraries; — These  books,  also,  Ques« 
tions  ^nd  Hymns,  &jc.  are  furnished  at  the  Bath  Bookstore 
at  the  Prices,  as  advertised  in  the  catalogues  of  the  Am.  S, 
S.  Union.    Lots  of  100  volumes  for  $10,  kept  on  hand. 


Abbott's  Biographies. 
interessing  to  young  or  old 
Julius  Cffisar, 
Hannibal, 
Josephine,       ,   ' 
Xerxes, 

Queen  Glizcbeth, 
Darius  the  Great, 
William,  the  Conqueror, 


This  series  of  well  written  books, 

,  inc)udes  the  following, 
Alfred  the  Great, 
Maria  Antoinette, 
Charls  1st,  .i^ 

Charles  2d,      liSj,   ,„  .^ 
Cyrus  the  Great, 
Miary  Queen  of  Scots, 
Madame  Roland,  Cleopatra. 


Historical   Works. 


v< 


Gibbons'  Rome,  Rollins  History, 

Hume's  England,  Macauley's  England, 

Josephus,  D'Aubigne's  Reformation, 

And  other  valuable  Historical  works  at  the  lowest  prjcfs^ 


i^fy 


308 

n^se   Buildem  o^^'i^ 


If* 


»  .1. 


Will  bo  furnished  to  ordor,  by  R.  L.  tJnderhil],  at  short 
notice,  with  a  variety  uf  ornamental  articles  of  Iron,  of 
Composition  material,  such  as  Cornice  Moulding,  Entabla' 
tures,  Lintells,  Sills,  Consoles  Brackets,  Capitals  of  Corin- 
thian or  other  orders.  Chimney  Tops,  ^c.  All  these  are 
suitable  for  Stone,  Brick,  or  wood  buildings.  Also,  Com- 
position  mouldings,  for  inside  work,  such  as  Panel  Mould- 
ings for  Doors,  Casings,  Sec,  being  cheap,  durable,  and  ele* 
gant  substitutes  for  stone  or  wood  carving. 

Marble  Mantels,  carved  or  plain;  Enameled  Iron 
Mantels,  a  perfect,  and  indestructible  imitation  of  marble, 
white  or  colored.  Iron  Columns,  Fire  Proof  Shutters,  Iron 
Statuary,  Bailing  for  Cemetery  lots,  or  Door  yards,  Stair, 
Eailmg,  Bakomes,  &c.  ^     ^^ui.^ 


,Mi 


■4 


HOT  Alft  FURNACES,  &C^ 


;  t^'^  fc*< 


i>i. 


Furnished  of  any  size  or  pattern  at  prices  according  to* 
size,  from  $50,  up.  A  very  excellent  Furnace  to  warn 
one  upper  and  one  basement  room,  is  furnished  for  $25. 


:  f  ■-< 


Are  You  Married?  Then  provide  for  the  future  ne- 
cessities of  those  you  love.  If  they  are  dependant  on  your 
labor,  lay  by  a  small  part  of  your  earnings — you  can  very 
easily  spare  $10  or  $20  a  year ;  this  amount,  if  you  are  not 
over  26  years  old,  will  secure  to  your  family  $500  or  $1000. 
If  you  ara  older,  it  will  require  a  little  more.  Who  will  not 
save  this  trifle  for  the  welfare  of  his  wife  and  children  ? — 
^e  Life  Insurance  advertisement.        -   >  »:  .;,...,.,.„ 


■  *•«'..• 


3^ 


Hi 


,:?«%■ 


.«• 


f  >> 

f  *, 


''9^:^^ 


mr"^:^ 


THE  AMERICAN  SHEPHERD^  being  a  History  of 
the  sheep,  with  their  breeds,  management  and  diseases, 
Barns,  Sheds,  Preparation  of  Wool  for  sale,  &c.,  &£., 

You  ATT  ON  THE  HoRSE — A  large  work  including  every- 
thing relating  to  the  Horse,  and  an  essay  on  the  Ass  and. 
Mule. 

Youatt  on  the  Pig — Youatt  on  Sheep.  ^ 

Culture  of  the  Grape  and  Strawberry. 

Farmer's  Encyclopedia ;  a  complete  Dictionary  of  every 
thinfi:  relating  to  Agriculture. 

Cole's  Veterinarian. — The  diseases  of  Domestic  Ani- 
mals, their  Causes  and  Cure, 

American  Poulterer's  CouPANioN.—This  book  treats- 
of  the  best  nr.ethod  of  raising  and  fattening  all  kinds  of 
Poultry,  showing  the  profitable  character  of  the  Business. 

Domestic  Animals,  by  Allen.— nSho wing  the  best  meth- 
od of  raising,  fattening,  and  preparing  for  a  profitable  mar- 
ket,  including  directions  for  the  management  of  the  Dairy. 

Farmer's  Hand  Book.— Containing  directions  for  par- 
chasing  and  clearing  Land,  plans  of  Buildings,  Fences,  gea- 
eral  management  of  a  farm,  useful  recipes,  <kc.,  &c. 


*  310 

Skinnik  on  Aoucitltttrb. — Containing  Contribationi, 
B  ssays,  and  Statiitics  from  practical  Farmers. 

Thomas'  Furit  CtrLTimisT. — A  valuable  work  on  the 
Orchard,  Nursery,  dec. 

B  rry's  Fruit  Gardrn.— Containing  full  directions  for 
Dwa^r,and  Pyramidal  Trees,  particularly  applicable  togar* 
dens  .^  nd  small  grounds. 

Huf  Ds*  Farrirr. — ^Tbe  most  popular  book  on  this  sub* 
ject.  It  continues  to  be  in  good  demand,  notwithstanding 
the  multitude  of  new  books. 

LiRBia's  Agricultural  Chrmistry. — A  very  scientific 
and  popular  work,  which  should  be  well  studied  by  every 
Farmer. 

These  and  many  other  new  and  popular  books,  worthy 
the  attention  of  the  intelligent  cultivator  of  the  ^cil  are  sup- 


plied at  the  Bath  Bookstore. 


t-Ta- 


C    C'^^Cr 


I-*'. 


«^i4^ 


»•    ^ 


NATIONAL    LOAN   FUND, 
I.IFE  INSURANCE  SOCIETY  OF  LONDON. 


^.;^» 


•  .r 


A  savings  bank  for  the  benefit  of  the  widow  and  the  ot- 
phan. 

<Einpowered  by  Act  of  Parllment)  :■''*!'.•*',? 

Capital  £500,000  sterling,  or  $2,500,000  besides  a  reserved 
fand  (from  surplus  premiums)  of  about  $185,000 

This  Institution  embraces  important  and  substantial  ad- 
vantages  with  respect  to  life  assurances  and  deferred  annui- 
ties. The  assured  has,  on  all  occasions,  the  power  to  bor- 
row, without  expense  or  forfeiture  of  the  policy,  two  thirds 
of  the  premiums  paid  ;  also  the  option  of  selecting  benefits, 
and  the  conversion  of  his  interests  to  meet  either  conveni- 
ences or  necessity. 
..^Assurances  for  terms  of  years  at  the  lowest  possible  rates. 

Persons  insured  for  life,  can  at  once,  borrow  half  the 
amount  of  annual  premium  for  five  successive  years,  on 
Cheir  own  note  and  deposit  of  policy. 


mj 


Jit 

Part  of  the  capital  is  permanently  invented  in  the  United 
States,  in  the  names  of  the  three  local  directors—- as  Trui> 
tees — available  always  to  the  assured  in  case  of  disputed 
daims  (should  any  such  arise)  or  otherwise. 

The  payment  of  premiums,  half-yearly  or  quarterly,  at  a 
trifling  advance  opon  the  annual  rate. 

Thirty  days  allowed  after  each  payment  of  premium  be- 
comes due,  without  forfeiture  of  policy. 

An  act  in  respect  to  insurance  of  lives,  for  the  benefit  of 
married  women,  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  New  York, 
Ist  April,  1840. 

Pamphlets,  blank  forms,  table  of  rates,  lists  of  agents,  etc., 
obtained  from  the  agents  throughout  the  United  States,  and 
British  North  American  Colohies. 

,  .^  ;     R.  L.  UNDERHILI^,  Agent. 

Baptist,  Methooist,  Presbyterian,  Episcopal,  and 
other  doctrinal  books  for  sale  at  the  usual  rates. 

American  Authors. — Irving,  Cooper,  Bryant,  Willis, 
Sigourney,  Prescott,  Hawthorn,  Stephens,  and  all  other 
writers  of  celebrity,  whose  works  shffuld  be  in  every  mao'a 
Library,  are  furnished  very  low. 


Or  Life  on  a  Farm — A  most  graphic  picture  of  country 
life.     The  author  aims  to  convince  men  of  the  vvirdom  ef 
beiog  contented  with  an   honorable,  useful,  and  productive 
occupation.     It  is  well  written  and  highly  interesting. 
THE    MASTER    BUILDER, 

Or  Life  at  a  Trade.  Another  work  of  ttie  same  charac* 
ter,  and  of  equal  usefulness  and  interest.  These  books 
should  have  a  large  circulation. 

Ilirdropalhy*— New  pub^  n-^tm^  furnished  as  soon 
as  published.  ..::*.,a.  ,-..u^v..v  ,^  ,v^*- 


1 


^''>' 


.1[; 


319 


FOR    CARPENTERS. 

Hill's  GuiDB^The  largest  and  most  complete  work  of 
the  kind. 

Benjamin's  Architect — The  old  approved  book  best 
adapted  to  ordinary  practice. 

American  Architect — Containing  numerous  plans  and 
full  details  of  the  new  styles  of  building. 

American  House  Carpenter. — Plans  and  designs,  .for 
country  houses,  useful  for  Mechanics,  or  those  who  are 
forming  plans  for  themselves. 

JRuRAL  Architecture. — Being  a  complete  description  of 
Farm  Houses,  Cottages,  Out'Buildings,  Gardens,  Barns, 
Sheds,  &c.,  Ac. 

Amot's  Gothk  Architecture — Containing  all  the  rules, 
and  full  details  applicable  to  Dwellings. 

MUSICAL    INSTRUMENTS. 

Violins,  from  $1,  to  $10.  Flutes,  with  1  key  up  to  6. — 
Guitars,  from  $2,  to  $30.  Accordeons,  fine  and  cheap. — 
Flutinas,  much  superior  to  Accordeons. 

MELODEONS--The  most  desirable  instrument  for 
social  music,  and  well  suited  for  a  Church  Choir. 

Flageolets,  Fifes,  Violin  Strings,  Bridges,  Screws,  Bows, 
Bow  Hair,  Refineed  JRnsin,  Clarionet  Keeds,  Accordeon 
Keeds,  Tuning  Forks,  and  Instruction  Books  for  all  lustni-^ 
ments. 

PIANOS,  from  $200  up. 


n 


VI 

tc 

0 


FOR    THE    LIBRARY. 

Ship  and  Shore.  Three  Years  in  California,  Deck  and 
Port,  Sea  and  Sailor,  Land  Lee. 

These  books,  by  Rev.  Tho's  Colton  are  very  inieresting, 
•ad  are  a  very  suitable  addition  to  any  Library. 

HOMEOPATHIC    BOOKS. 

Hempel's  Domestic  Physician,  Jahr's  Manual,  HttU's 
Laurie,  Marcy'i  Practice,  Boeninghausen's  Therapeatics. 


a 
tl 


C 


•  813 

Hahneman's  Organon,  and  all  other  books  of  (hif  elan  ftt». 
niahed  at  the  advertised  prices  of  the  publisher. 


A  variety  of  articles  of  entirely  new  8tyle,<»u8efu1,  con- 
venient, and  ornamental.  We  are  making  large  additions 
to  this  branch  of  our  business,  and  all  house<keepers,  new, 
or  old,  will  find  sonir>thing  to  suit  them  in  our  stock. 

Gilt  Cornices  for  Window  Drapery. 

Silk  Loops,  Gimp  Bands,  Gilt  Pins,  ice.,  for  Drapery, 

Gilt  Frames  for  Portraits  or  other  Pictures,  also. 

iiosewood  Frames — Looking  Glasses,  &;c.^  ice, 


PT/JVDOW    CURTAINS, 
AND 


% 


R.  L.  UNDEMILL  k  Co., 

Have,  in  connection  withi  their  other  business,  the  largest 
assortment  of  Wall  Paper,  that  can  be  found  in  thia  part  of 
the  State,  consisting  of 


,^ 


MANY  THOUSAND  ROLLS, 


Of  the  latest  and  most  desirable  patterns  of  French  and 
American  Manufacture,  and  almost  every  variet]|r  of  Strip- 
ed, Gothic,  Arched,  Landscape,  Block  Harble«  Frtscs  and, 


Croid  Styles— Satin  and  Conmon  Finish;  togerber  witk 
ovet 

200  DiiTerent  Kinds  of  Cheap  Paper, 

From  6  cts.  to  $2  per  roll,  with  a  good  assortment  of  wide 
and  narrow 

GOLD,  VELVET  d-  SATIN BOl.DERS  TO  MATC3 
FROM  4s.  TO  •&  PER.  ROI4L. 

D!7*  These  papers  have  all  been  selected  with  great  care, 
and  are  of  the  latest  styles  of  superior  ^nisb,  and  the  best 
aassortmnnt  in  the  market,    AlsQi 


1  ^*'^^" 


WIDE  GREEN  PAPER  FOR  WINDOW  SHADES 


■'^^nasttA'it^. 


We  have  upwards  of  forty  different  kinds,  end  every  va- 
riety of  style  that  is  new  or  desirable,  viz :  Pea  Green,  Dark 
Green,  and  Blue,  fine  striped,  Variei^ated  and  Blended,  and 
the  best  striped.  Variegated  and  Blended,  and  the  best 
quality  of  paper  that  can  be  found. 


4 

^-i- 


PAINTED  WINDOW  SHADES, 

Gothic,  Landscape,  Flower,  &c.,  with  centres  or  full,  the 
most  beautiful  article  of  House  Furniture  in  use.    Only  50 

Our  arranprements  with  the  LARGEST  EASTERN 
MANUFACTURERS  are  such,  as  will  give  to  purchasers 
great  advantage  in  prices,  while  we  are  determined  to  keep 
the  best  selected  assortment,  and  at  as  low  prices  as  any  in 
town.  Those  who  have  been  in  the  habit  of  buying  of  us, 
at  wholesale  or  retail,  and  all  others  will  find  it  to  their  ad- 
vantage to  examine  our  stock  before  purchasing— and  we 
trust  we  shall  be  able  to  give  satisfaction  to  those  who  may 
/avor  ui  with  their  orders,  .       ;« 


W 


fK'ff- 


315 


"»»!# 


*  EXPERIENCED  HANDS  furnished  to  bang  paper, 
when  desired,  and  samples  sent  out  to  select  from  if  wan* 
ted. 
1X17*  Goods  freely  shown,  and  sold  at  very  low  prices. 

MATERIALS  FOR  DRAWING,  PAINTING,  dec- 
Bristol  Board,  Drawing  Paper,  Pencils,  Paint,  Brushes  &;c.. 
For  sale  by  R.  L.  UNDERBILL  &  CO. 


In  a  greater  or  less  degree  t|ie  principle  which  leads  as 
to  investigate,  to  examine,  and  to  inquire,  is  present  in  the 
breast  of  each  of  the  human  species.  We  dignify  with  the 
epithet  of  "Pursuit  of  Knowledge"  the  investigations  of  the 
student  of  Philosophy,  and  degrade  the  habit  of  observa* 
tion,  of  comparison,  and  research,  which  is  a  daily  and  con- 
stant exercise  of  our  faculties,  by  the  application  of  the  epi- 
thet "Curiosity." 

Is  this  just?— What  constitutes  the  distinction  ?  that 
there  is  such  a  thing  as  idle  curiosity  is  admitted,  but  that 
cariosity  which  leads  the  members  of  the  first  sin  sex  to  spend 
their  time  "  shopping"  is  not  idle,  if  the  knowledge  thus 
gained  is  made  available  in  the  judicious  selection  of  sub* 
sequent  purchases. 

The  most  prolific  source  for  the  gratification  of  the  pria- 
•tple  of  curiosity  is  without  doubt  the  Bath  Bookstore,  for 
not  only  are  the  Books  an  endless  fund  of  information,  but 
at  the  same  place  is  also  found  an  infinite  variety  of  arti« 
olet  to  gratify  the  tye,  improve  the  taste,  expand  the  mind, 
ttrengwen  the  judgment,  stimulate  the  intellect,  alla^  vo* 
due  excitement,  arouse  the  sluggish  temperament,  incita 
the  desires,  and  also  to  gratify  those  who  already  possess 
these  desirable  powera  by  affording  abundant  scope  for  their 
exercise. 


-0i- 


*■ 


316 


'0^. 


'*, 


It  is  tinnecessary  after  this  concatenation  of  expletives,  to 
add  that  the  Bath  Bookstore  is  emphatically  a  "Curiosity 
Shop,"  vHiere  everything  imaginable, rare,  curious,  indigen- 
ous  and  exotic  is  more  likely  to  be  fonnd  than  in  any  place 
that  can  be  designated  within  the  extent  of  the  domain  of 
that  ancient  brother  of  our  "paternal — Uncle  Sam." 

Now  linto  all,  tottering  youth,  decrepit  age,  the  glowing 
belle  or  the  stately  guardian  of  the  fair,  to  those  who  court 
the  syren,  pleasure;  or  pursue  the  not  less  fleeting  phantom 
wealth,  we  send  greeting,  the  invitation  devoid  of  all  for- 
mality— ••  At  Home" — the  doors  are  cordially  opened  to  all ; 
drop  in  and  spend  an  hour  even  if  you  do  not  buy — examine, 
read,  in  short — gratify  your  curiosity. 

Then  if  you  should  wish  to  buy,  you  will  find  in  one  cor- 
ner a  choice  collection  of  Toys;  and  Masters  Edward  and 
Robert;  the  proprietors  thereof  can  supply  you  with  a  penny 
Trumpet  or  Rmg— up  to  a  Wax  Doll  or  Crying  baby ;  a 
China  Tea  Set,  or  a  Corai  necklace;  in  fine,  a  large  stock 
with  small  owners.  Then  should  you  desire  to  gratify  a 
friend  with  a  present,  or  propitiate  with  a  significant  token 
of——,  you  will  be  furnished  with  a  book  that  will  plain- 
ly sp?ak  that  which  the  trembling  lips  refuse  the  utterance. 

Then  what  worthier  gift  for  those  whom  we  venerate  in 
the  dignity  of  age  or  esteem  in  the  plenitude  of  all  that  is 
noble,  that  the  expressions  of  those  high  in  the  honor  of  the 
world  for  their  lofty  powers  of  intellect  and  reason — for  the 
aged,  the  time  honored  writings  of  Baxter,  Banyan  and  a 
long  list  of  kindred  spirits,  and  for  the  mature  mind  what 
more  appropriato  gift  than  a  book  emanating  from  the  brain 
of  some  masterspirit,  from  him,  the  immortal  Bard,  whose 
name  shall  "  endure  to  the  last  aylable  of  recorded  time,**! 
down  to  the  fledgling  aspirant  for  fame,  or  instead  of  these, 
the  truth  portraying  page  ot  the  Historian,  teaching  philo^ 
sopliy  by  example,  or  the  soaring  flights  of  a  Headley,  or 
abstrusities  of  a  Carlyle — tempting  the  Icanai>s  to  melt  their 
waxed  wings  in  the  sun  of  sharp  criticism.  For  thegentler^ 
mind  what  more  pleasing  gift  than  the  writings  of  Tupper, 
Willis,  Sigourney,  Hemans,  or  Lowell,  Hawthorne,  McJUi-. 


'I 


f 


■^■^'j 


As 


'  Mi** 


P 


tosh,  &c.,  Orace  Greenwood,  Fanny  Fern  or  any  other  al- 
literative wm  deplumt.  For  Youth  what  mere  useful  gift 
than  Abbotts  Histories,  the  biographical  examples  of  Mrs. 
Tuthill  or  her  pleasing  Tales  bearing  a  salutary  moral  influ- 
once  fertilizing  like  the  dew.  In  vain  would  be  the  endeav* 
or  to  describe  the  character  of  the  vast  variety  of  books  that 
All  our  shelves ;  when  you  wish  a  book  it  is  only  necessary 
to  name  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  intended*  or  the  subject 
to  be  studied  and  your  desire  will  be  supplied. 

But  Books  may  not  meet  your  fancy — perhaps  your  cu« 
riosity  does  not  run  that  way,  as  a  young  gentlemen  once 
Maid  of  his  taste  for  the  society  of  ladies — if  this  be  so,  then 
turn  to  the  show  cases  and  examine  the  interminable  varie- 
ty  of  FANCY  ARTICLES  both  useful  and  ornamental 
that  render  the  Bookstore  a  magazine  of  all  things  under 
the  sun  and  if  some  of  these  be  not  new  then  the  king  of 
olden  time  must  have  surpavjed  all  modern  intelligences  in 
the  same  ratio  with  his  superiority  to  rule  a  household~-for 
who  in  these  degenerate  days  would  deem  himself  compe* 
tent  to  control  such  a  family  of  wives— unless  indeed  it  b^ 
the  puissant  Governor  or  Utah— Ah !  who  knows !  perhaps 
herein  lies  the  secret  of  human  wisdom,  for  as  the  spirit  of 
curiosity  h&4  descended  from  Mother  Eve  to  all  her  daugh- 
ters, may  it  not  be  that  the  man  who  is  the  recipient  of  the 
collective  curiosity  of  many  wives,  must  be  wiser  than  he 
who  is  dependent  upon  only  one.  Be  wise  then  according 
to  your  ability,  and  each  of  you  who  possess  such  an  appen- 
dage, despatch  you  better  half  on  a  "prospecting"  expedi- 
tion, and  let  each  fail  not  to  call  and  see  the  stock  of  the 
Bookstore  the  "  old  curiosity  shop,"  and  it  will  be  strange 
indeed  if  the  vocabulary  be  not  Astonishingly  Alliterative- 
Amulets,  Accordeons,  Antiques,  Aiglets,  Attar,  Argentique, 
Albata,  Amators,  Allumettes,  Amber,  all  artistically  arrang- 
ed. 

Bracelets  Beads,  Bugles,  Baskets,  Boxes,  Brushes,  Boa- 
quetiers,  Backgammon  Boards,  Bags,  Baldrics,  Barometers, 
Braid,  Berlins,  Brooches,  beatific  Bridal  Bagatelles,  beauti- 
ully  blended. 


^ 


318  ^^ 

Card  Cases,  Corallines,  Cabas,  Chess,  Crochet,  Cords, 
Chains,    Cabinets,    Candelabras,     Chatelaines,    Crayons, 
,  Clasps,  Charms.  Coiffure,  Curtain  Cornices,  and  Congeners 
dosely  Concinnous. 

,  Dominoes,  Donceurs,  Drapery,  Dyes,  Dentrifice,  Deteo- 
tors,  Date  Denoters,  Depjiators,  Dolls,  Dice,  Decorations^ 
Ditto  Ditto  Dozens. 

Escritoires,  Elegant  Enamelled  Embossed  Envelopes^ 
ETC.  ETC.  etc.  m ■  Extended  enumeration  exceeds  ex- 
pression. Efficient  exhibition  easier  executed — eclipsing  ex- 
pectation, expediting  exportation, — 

which  is  the  earnest  wish  of 
Your  most  obedient  servants,  -  ^ 

^  The  Proprietors  of  the 

J  Bath  Bookstore. 


From  $1  to  $10.    Pocket  Bibles  yarioaa  styles. 


Chesi-men,  Back-gammon  fioaida,  Dominoes,  kc.  Cbil« 
dren's  Games.  ^t 


■nt 

M 

i 

* 

• 

,  - 

